Hundreds of police maintain order as N Korea girl band leader crosses border

THE LEADER of a popular North Korean girl band crossed the border into South Korea yesterday to check preparations for an art troupe she also heads in next month’s Winter Olympics.

Appearing live on South Korean television, Hyon Song Wol did not speak when she walked past reporters, crowds and a barrage of camera flashes before boarding a train at Seoul’s railway station. The train was bound for the city of Gangneung, where her art troupe is to perform during the Pyeongchang Olympics.

She is also the leader of Pyongyang’s all-female Moranbong Band, which was handpicked by leader Kim Jong Un.

She has been the subject of intense South Korean media attention since she attended last week’s talks at the border that struck an agreement on the art troupe’s two performances – one in Seoul and the other in Gangneung, where some of the games will take place.

TV stations broadcast live footage of Ms Hyon’s bus moving on Seoul’s roads before arriving at the railway station, where hundreds of police officers were mobilised to maintain order.

Photos showed a smiling Hyon shaking heads with a South Korean official upon arrival at the border. Later on Sunday, wearing a fur scarf and with half her hair tied to the back, she looked more serious. Her arrival came hours after the International Olympic Committee allowed 22 North Korean athletes to take part in the Olympics in exceptional entries given to the North.

Among the 22 are 12 women who will join South Korea’s female hockey team in the Koreas’ first-ever unified Olympic team.

The other events the North Koreans will compete in are figure skating, short track speed skating, Alpine skiing and crosscountry skiing.