Little sis, big deal: Kim sibling mingles
North Korean envoy shares historic handshake with South Korea’s leader
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister took her place Friday among dignitaries from around the world, including Vice President
Mike Pence, at the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in an unprecedented visit to South Korea.
As the opening ceremony began, Kim Yo Jong and South Korean President Moon Jae-in exchanged a historic handshake and spoke briefly. They smiled broadly, though it was not immediately known what they said.
On Saturday, Moon met with Kim Yo Jong and other senior North Korean officials over lunch at Seoul’s presidential palace in the most significant diplomatic encounter between the rivals in years.
At the age of 30, Kim Yo Jong is quite possibly the most powerful woman in North Korea. Just a few years younger than her brother, she is believed to be his closest confidant and is a senior cadre in North Korea’s ruling party.
Her arrival on Kim Jong Un’s private jet with a coterie of 22 officials was broadcast live on South Korean television.
She had a brief meeting at the airport with South Korean officials, including Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, before being whisked away in a black limousine and catching the high-speed train to Pyeongchang.
As a sign of her status, the elder Kim Yong Nam, the North’s 90-yearold nominal head of state, offered her the seat of honor at the airport meeting, but she politely declined.
The trip comes amid a flurry of activity following Kim Jong Un’s surprise proposal on New Year’s Day to send a delegation to the Olympics.
Kim Yo Jong has been rapidly rising within the North’s power structure and is believed to be in charge of shaping her brother’s public persona. But she has generally remained safely cloaked in her brother’s shadow.
Just before the opening ceremony, Kim Yong Nam attended a dinner for visiting foreign dignitaries hosted by Moon.
U.N. Secretary-general Antonio Guterres, who sat near Kim Yong Nam at the dinner, had a brief exchange with her and “reiterated his expectation and hope that all parties will use dialogue to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Guterres was also in “the same general area” as a number of other North Korean officials, including Kim Yo Jong, “but they were never in any personal contact with each other,” Haq said.