Kim delegates sister to Olympics
• Dynasty’s first official representative to visit the south
Kim Jong-un named his sister to represent North Korea at the Winter Olympics in South Korea, a historic visit that ups the drama as world leaders including US Vice-President Mike Pence gather for the event.
Kim Yo-jong, promoted by her brother in 2017 to the governing party’s political wing, would be the Kim dynasty’s first official representative to set foot in the south. She plans to attend the opening ceremony for the Winter Games in South Korea’s alpine town of Pyeongchang on Friday, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said on Wednesday.
The visit by a potential future leader of North Korea could be seen as a symbolic gesture by Kim to show he is keen to maintain the current lull in tensions over his nuclear weapons programme. But her presence also serves a propaganda purpose, stealing the spotlight from South Korea and putting more pressure on the alliance between Washington and Seoul.
Speculation about the visit was already high after Pence signalled he might be open to talks with North Korean officials while attending Olympics events. Complicating the issue is the fact that Kim Yo-jong is subject to US sanctions for heading the nation’s propaganda department. Any contact Pence has with her could therefore constitute a violation.
ECONOMIC SANCTIONS
After a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, Pence took a tough line against North Korea, saying the administration would “soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive” economic sanctions. Pence will be joined at the Olympics by the father of Otto Warmbier, the US student who died in 2017 after being jailed in North Korea.
“We will not allow North Korean propaganda to hijack the message and imagery of the Olympic Games,” Pence said. “We will not allow North Korea to hide behind the Olympic banner the reality that they enslave their people and threaten the wider region.”
While South Korea has eagerly engaged in talks with Kim, the White House remains sceptical. The US has expressed concern that the regime is using the talks and the decision by both countries to march together under a single flag during the opening ceremony to bolster its position at home.
Koh Yu-hwan, who teaches North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said Kim Yo-jong would probably carry a message from her brother to South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
This “is the clearest-ever sign that his intention to recover the inter-Korean relations is strong and he wants to show it to the world”, said Koh, who heads the advisory group for the presidential National Security Council.