North Korean band’s frontwoman in Seoul ahead of Olympics

The head of a hugely popular North Korean girl band crossed the heavily fortified border into South Korea yesterday to check preparations for rare performances by an art troupe she also leads during next month’s Winter Olympics.

Appearing live on South Korean TV, Hyon Song Wol did not speak when she walked past a crowd of reporters, onlookers and a barrage of camera flashes beforeboardinganexpress train at Seoul’s railway station for the eastern city of Gangneung, where her art troupe is to perform during the Pyeongchang Olympics.

She is the leader of Pyongyang’s all-female Moranbong Band, which was hand-picked by leader Kim Jong Un. She’s 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-member Samjiyon art troupe’s two performances – one in Seoul, the other in Gangneung, where some of the events will take place. After the talks, North Korea said Ms Hyon would also lead the Samjiyon art troupe, whose performances would be the first by a North Korean group in South Korea since 2002.

With no official media access given to Ms Hyon, TV stations broadcast live footage of her 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 Ms Hyon shaking hands with a South Korean official upon arrival at the border. Later, wearing a dark winter coat and fur scarf, and with half her hair tied to the back, she looked more serious with an expressionless face.

Ms 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 countries’ first-ever unified Olympic team. The other sports events the North Koreans will compete in are figure skating, short track speed skating, Alpine skiing and cross-country 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.

The current mood of reconciliation between the Koreas emerged after Mr Kim abruptly expressed his willingness to improve ties and send a delegation to the Olympics during his annual New Year’s address.