N. Korean singer leads delegation to S. Korea
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — The head of a hugely popular North Korean girl band crossed the heavily fortified border into South Korea on Sunday as part of an official delegation, triggering a media frenzy as she checked potential venues for performances during next month’s Winter Olympics.
Hyon Song Wol boarded an express train at Seoul’s railway station for the eastern city of Gangneung, where the art troupe she also leads is to perform during the Pyeo- ngchang Olympics.
Hyon 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 140-mem- ber Samjiyon art troupe’s two performances — one in
Seoul and the other in Gang- neung, where some Olym- pic events will take place.
South Korea’s government sees North Korea’s participation in the Games — both in sporting events and cul
tural exchanges — as a way to calm tensions caused by Pyongyang’s recent nuclear
and missile tests and war of words with the United States.
The current between mood of
reconciliation the Koreas flared after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, during his annual New Year’s address, abruptly expressed
his willingness to improve ties and send a delegation to the Olympics.
Outside critics have dismissed Kim’s overture as a
tactic to use improved ties with Seoul to weaken U.S.- led international sanctions over North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile programs.
Hyon is the leader of Pyongyang’s Moranbong Band, all-female which was handpicked by Kim. After last week’s talks, North Korea said Hyon, who is also
member an ruling alternate Central of Com- the party’s mittee, would also lead the Samjiyon art troupe, whose performances would be the first by a North Korean group in South Korea since 2002. Hyon was a popular singer before she was appointed to lead the girl band, which serves as the “soft” public face of the Kim government. Its members in short skirts and high heels or stylish military uniforms sing and dance odes to Kim. There is speculation that some of the Moranbong members may also appear in the Samjiyon art troupe, which observers say was likely hastily formed ahead of the Olympics-related talks with South Korea. Hyon’s 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 sporting events the North Koreans will com
pete in are figure skating, short-track speed skating, alpine skiing and cross-coun
try skiing.
The 22 North Korean athletes will march together with South Korean players
under a single “unification flag” depicting their peninsula during the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang.
“Such an agreement would have seemed impossible only a few weeks ago,” IOC chief
Thomas Bach said in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Hyon was travelling with six other North Koreans.
Her delegation had been expected in South Korea on Saturday, but North Korea canceled that plan on Friday night before it proposed a two-day trip starting Sunday. It wasn’t clear why the visit was rescheduled.
Later Sunday, Hyon’s advance team inspected a venue for her art troupe’s performance in Gangneung. The team was expected to stay overnight at Gangneung before returning to Seoul.