Sister act: Kim Yo Jong dominates S Korea headlines
SEOUL: A friendly face promising better times, or a mask to conceal a brutal dictatorship? South Koreans are divided on Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North’s leader, and her landmark visit to their country. The first member of the North’s ruling dynasty to set foot in the South since the end of the war, Kim has been an instant object of fascination for South Korean and global media since she rode down the escalator at Incheon airport on Friday, calmly surveying the scene.
She shook hands several times with the South’s President Moon Jae-in, cheered a unified ice hockey team with him, and conveyed her brother’s invitation to a summit in Pyongyang. Every detail of her visit as the key member of a diplomatic delegation to the South’s Winter Olympics has been scrutinized, from the clothes she wore and her facial expression to the bag she was carrying and even her handwriting. One calligraphy expert described her as “positive, upbeat and very goal-oriented” based on the precisely angular, somewhat girlish script she left in the guestbook at the South’s presidential Blue House.
Her brother-the third generation of her family to rule the isolated and impoverished North-will be pleased with her international diplomatic debut, said Yang Moo-Jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies at Seoul. “Kim kept smiling but at the same time was rarely seen having her head down during the visit, even to our president,” he said. “So maybe Kim Jong Un must be applauding at home.” But reactions among ordinary South Koreans have been more mixed. “They fired missiles until recently and conducted a nuclear test before suddenly launching this peace campaign,” businessman Kim Byoung-gwan said. “I don’t trust it.”
Others questioned the attention devoted to her. “All the media in the South and the around the world are going gaga about Kim Yo Jong,” said one commentator online. “Looks like they would soon join the North’s propaganda media to worship and idolize her.” Moon has long pushed engagement with the North-which is accused of widespread human rights abuses and subject to multiple sets of UN sanctions over its banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs-to bring it to the negotiating table.
His approval ratings have fallen since the deal for the North to take part in the Games was struck, with the decision to field a unified women’s ice hockey team proving particularly controversial. But one of the most widely welcomed moments of Kim Yo Jong’s visit was when both she and the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam stood as the South’s flag was raised and anthem played at the Olympics opening ceremony in Pyeongchang. “I hate Moon and I hate the North,” read an online comment. “But the scene was undeniably impressive. I hope the action came from sincerity for peace, not a fake gesture.” Educated in Switzerland like her brother, Kim Yo Jong has risen rapidly up the ranks since he inherited power from their father Kim Jong Il, and she is now one of his closest confidantes in a country where elite politics have always been a family affair.