N. Korea sending leader’s sister to Winter Olympics
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, an increasingly prominent figure in the country’s leadership, will be part of the North’s delegation to the South Korean Winter Olympics, officials said Wednesday.
Kim Yo Jong will be the first member of North Korea’s ruling family to visit South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Analysts say her inclusion in the Olympic delegation shows North Korea’s ambition to use the Olympics to break out from diplomatic isolation by improving relations with South Korea.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s office welcomed North Korea’s decision, saying it showed the North’s willingness to cooperate in easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Kim Yo Jong will meet with Moon, who has expressed a desire to reach out to the North.
In Japan, meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. is preparing to announce the “toughest and most aggressive” economic sanctions against North Korea, boosting pressure on its government during the Olympics. U.S. officials declined to provide details of the expected sanctions.
Experts said by sending a youthful person who will attract international attention during the Games, North Korea is trying to construct a fresher and warmer public image and defuse potential U.S. efforts to use the Olympics to highlight the North’s human rights record.
Kim Jong Un might also have seen that President Donald Trump was sending his daughter, Ivanka, to the Olympics closing ceremony and decided to match the move, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification.
Kim Yo Jong will be part of a North Korean delegation led by the country’s nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam.
Pence did not rule out a meeting with North Korean officials, telling reporters, “We’ll see what happens.” But he pledged that his message in any potential interaction would include the same message he has been delivering publicly: that the North must renounce its nuclear weapon and missile programs.
Hong, the analyst, said Washington may see Kim Yo Jong as an avenue to deliver messages to Kim Jong Un.
Kim Yo Jong and Kim Jong Un were born to the same mother, Ko Yong Hui. They had a half brother, Kim Jong Nam, who was murdered last year at a Malaysian airport.
Kim Yo Jong was promoted last year to be an alternate member of the decision-making political bureau of the ruling party’s central committee.
The war-separated Koreas are cooperating on a series of conciliatory measures during the Olympics, which the South sees as an opportunity to ease tensions with the North following an extended period of animosity over its nuclear weapon and missile programs.
Skeptics think North Korea is trying to use the Olympics to weaken U.S.led sanctions and pressure against it and buy time to advance its weapons programs.
North Korea has 22 athletes competing in the Winter Olympics but also has sent performing artists and a large cheering group.
A decision by North Korea to send the artists by sea has triggered debate in the South, where conservatives see the move as a clear indication the North is trying to use the Olympics to ease sanctions against it.
South Korea is deciding whether to accept North Korea’s request that it provide fuel for the ferry that transported the artists.
Seoul exempted the ferry from sanctions to allow it in South Korean waters.