Over the past few weeks, rumors have swirled that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is in a coma, and that his younger sister Kim Yo Jong has taken more power in the regime. Now, Kim Yo Jong has vanished from the public eye, and experts are weighing in on what that could mean.

The New York Post reported that Kim Yo Jong has not been seen in public since July 27, and it’s been speculated that she could be laying low to offset speculation that her brother has given her more authority over the regime. She disappeared after South Korean spies claimed that she now serves as Kim Jong Un’s “de facto second-in-command,” although she has not been officially designated as his successor.

“In the past, anyone was deprived of their position the moment they were described as the No. 2 person in the North,” said Korea University Professor Nam Sung-wook. “There must be a semblance of checks and balances, although Kim Yo Jong is a family member.”

Kim Yo Jong has not been seen since she stood beside her brother as he gave commemorative pistols to military leaders on the 67th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War. On Tuesday, she was noticeably absent from photos released by North Korea showing Kim Jong Un at a high-level meeting to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and prepare for a typhoon.

Kim Yo Jong has also not shown up at other meetings throughout the summer despite the fact that she is now an alternate member to the Politburo, which is the senior body of North Korea’s ruling party.

This comes after experts warned that Kim Yo Jong, 32, might be an even more ruthless dictator than her brother has been, if she takes over.

“I haven’t seen any evidence, any indication of how she might rule, but my speculation — given the reputation and history of the family — is that she would rule with an iron fist,” retired US Army Col. David Maxwell said of Kim Yo Jong.

Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, described Kim Yo Jong as “ambitious and smart,” saying that she “does cast a softer feminine glow on the brutish facade of her regime.” Should she take power, however, he added that nature of the regime “demands she be ruthless, especially in the first few years.”

“The way for her to build up her credibility and net worth, that is, the way for her to get respect, is not to play nice but be a cruel dictator to her people and a credible nuclear threat to the US,” Lee said. “She may prove herself fiercer and more tyrannical than her brother, father, or grandfather.”