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WORLD: The younger sister of Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, is in Seoul for an unprecedented diplomatic mission that has had a mixed reaction.
SOUTH KOREA: The younger sister of Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, is in Seoul for an unprecedented diplomatic mission that has been met with both scepticism and delight in South Korea.
Kim Yo Jong, 28, and Kim Yong Nam, 90, Pyongyang’s head of state, will lunch today with South Korean leader Moon Jae In, at the presidential palace, leading some to speculate that her reclusive brother has entrusted her with carrying a rare direct message.
However, her presence alongside United States vice-president Mike Pence in the VIP box for the Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony in the mountain village of Pyeongchang has caused a serious protocol headache.
The US slapped sanctions on Ms Kim in January over alleged serious human rights abuses, and both Washington and Tokyo remain wary that her brother’s recent overtures are a ruse to undermine international sanctions over his nuclear and missile programmes.
Both the US and North Korea maintain they do not plan to use the Games to talk to the other side, although neither have ruled it out.
Meanwhile, North Korea is keeping its rivals guessing by simultaneously showing two very different faces of its regime.
Yesterday, Pyongyang showcased its military might with soldiers goosestepping alongside its intercontinental ballistic missiles in a ceremonial parade.
Meanwhile, in the South, 80 of its female cheerleaders were charming the Olympic Village with a song and dance routine. Dressed in knee-high white boots and bright red uniforms, they made their debut as a traditional marching band in the Olympic co-host city of Gangneung. The band set the stage for the 140-strong Samjiyon Orchestra, which performed folk songs from the North and South, mixed with a dash of Western symphonies.
More than 150,000 South Koreans applied for just 1060 free tickets to the orchestra’s two performances.
The performers’ presence, and the bombshell of Kim sending his own sister, a trusted aide and a representative of their powerful dynastic bloodline, has been divisive in South Korea.
Just metres from the venue, a small, unruly contingent of protesters waved South Korean and US flags while shouting slogans against Kim’s regime, but they were vastly outnumbered by police, who were visibly on edge after several violent scuffles.
– Telegraph Group