North’s ceremonial leader leads delegation
‘Serious and sincere’ bid to improve ties
SEOUL: North Korea’s ceremonial leader, Kim Yong-nam, will head a delegation of three high-level officials and an 18-member entourage for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics starting later this week, South Korea’s Unification Ministry has said.
The ministry’s announcement was followed by a report by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency that a highlevel delegation led by Mr Kim, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, will attend Friday’s Olympic opening ceremony.
A source close to the South Korean presidential office said Seoul is studying whether President Moon Jae-in should hold a meeting with Mr Kim. The North Korean delegation will visit the South for three days from Friday, according to the ministry.
A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters yesterday that South Korea welcomes the delegation’s visit, saying Mr Kim will be the highest-level North Korean official ever to visit South Korea.
Mr Kim’s planned visit to the South reflects North Korea’s “resolve for an improvement of relations between the South and the North and a successful hosting of the Olympics, and has shown a serious and sincere attitude”, spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said.
South Korea is ready to greet the North Korean delegation “in a warm and earnest manner” and will prepare for various opportunities of communication with the North Koreans, including high-level governmental talks, Kim Eui-kyeom said.
Yonhap News Agency, quoting experts, said North Korea seems to want to break its diplomatic isolation by sending its ceremonial leader to the Feb 9-25 games, where global leaders, including US Vice-President Mike Pence, will gather.
With the North failing to have informed the South of details of other delegation members, attention in the South is focused on whether Choe Ryong-hae, Pyongyang’s de facto No. 2 official and a vice-chairman of the North Korean ruling party’s central committee, or other high-ranking officials will be included in the delegation, according to Yonhap.
In a related development, the Unification Ministry said Monday that the North has proposed sending an art troupe to South Korea this week on a cargo and passenger ship for performances to mark the Winter Olympics.
Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told reporters North Korea notified the South on Sunday that it plans to send the 140member Samjiyon art troupe on the Mangyongbong-92today and use it as accommodation for the group.
While the South has banned North Korean ships from entering South Korean ports under its sanctions against the North over its nuclear and missile programs, the spokesman said the South is considering making an exception for the Olympics.
He added South Korea will also hold consultations with the United States and other countries to make the North Korean ship’s entry not subject to UN sanctions imposed on North Korea.
The two Koreas have agreed on the art troupe’s performances in South Korea to celebrate the Winter Games.
North and South Korea held their first official talks in more than two years last month after the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, struck a conciliatory note on relations with the South in his New Year’s address.
North Korea has since agreed to send athletes, a cheering squad, a taekwondo demonstration team, an art troupe and high-ranking officials to the South.
At the games, North and South Korea will march together under one flag in the opening ceremony and field a unified women’s ice hockey team.