Hindustan Times (Patiala)

‘Political princess’ Kim Yo Jong heads to N Korea after South visit

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A North Korean delegation led by a political princess was set to head home Sunday night after a whirlwind three days in South Korea, where she sat among world leaders at the Olympics and tossed a diplomatic offer to the South aimed at ending seven decades of hostility.

Kim Yo Jong and the other North Korean officials were scheduled to depart for Pyongyang on leader Kim Jong Un’s private jet, a day after they delivered his hopes for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in during a lunch at Seoul’s presidenti­al palace.

Their final schedule in South Korea was joining Moon at a Seoul concert of a visiting North Korean art troupe, led by the head of the immensely popular Moranbong band, whose young female members are hand-picked by Kim Jong Un.

Accepting North Korea’s demand to transport more than 100 members of the art troupe by sea, South Korea treated the Mangyongbo­ng-92 ferry as an exemption to the maritime sanctions it imposed on the North, a controvers­ial move amid concerns that the North is trying to use the Olympics to poke holes in internatio­nal sanctions.

Kim Yo Jong, 30, is an increasing­ly prominent figure in her brother’s government and the first member of the North’s ruling family to visit the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

In dispatchin­g the highest level of government officials the North has ever sent to the South, Kim Jong Un revealed a sense of urgency to break out of deep diplomatic isolation in face of toughening sanctions over his nuclear programme, analysts say.

They say Kim Jong Un’s decision to send his sister to the South reflected an eagerness to break out of diplomatic isolation by improving ties with the South, which the country could eventually use as a bridge to approach the United States. The US-led internatio­nal community has been tightening the screws on North Korea with sanctions designed to punish its economy and rein in its efforts to expand its nuclear weapons and missile program, which now includes developmen­tal long-range missiles targeting the US mainland.

By also sending a youthful, photogenic individual who would surely draw internatio­nal attention at the Olympics, Kim might have also been trying to construct a fresher image of the country, particular­ly in face of US efforts to use the Olympics as an occasion to highlight the North’s brutal human rights record.

 ?? REUTERS ?? Kim Yo Jong
REUTERS Kim Yo Jong

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