Sister thaws the ice

NORTH Korean dictator Kim Jong Un chose the icy setting of the Winter Olympics yesterday to launch a charm offensive aimed at thawing relations with South Korea.

His sister Kim Yo Jong shook hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and gave him a handwritten note inviting him to a summit at “the earliest possible date”.

Mr Moon replied, “Let us make it happen by creating the necessary conditions in the future.”

If it takes place, it would be the first meeting of the heads of state from North and South Korea in a decade.

Ms Kim, 30, the regime’s propaganda chief, is the first member of Pyongyang’s ruling dynasty to set foot in the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

The two sides spoke for three hours over lunch at the presidential palace in Seoul.

Ms Kim reportedly left a note at the palace expressing hope “Pyongyang and Seoul will become closer in the heart of Koreans” and for “unification and prosperity in the near future”.

Earlier, the pair exchanged pleasantries.

“You must have had a hard time due to the cold weather,’ Mr Moon said.

Ms Kim reportedly replied, “It was OK because you, Mr President, were kind enough to care.”

But the reaction from the US remained decidedly frosty.

US Vice President Mike Pence snubbed the lunch and avoided interaction with Ms Kim when they sat just metres apart at the opening ceremony.

He only stood up for the US team, even though other dignitaries rose to their feet to applaud the joint arrival of North and South Korean athletes.