Feb 7, 2018
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is to attend Friday’s opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, which are being held in the South, ministers in Seoul say.
Kim Yo-jong is the youngest daughter of late leader Kim Jong-il and her role was strengthened last year when she was promoted to the politburo.
Both Koreas will march under one flag at the opening ceremony.
The North’s participation has been seen as a thawing of bilateral ties.
However, experts say it is unlikely to have any impact on the North’s nuclear ambitions.
The US believes the North is using the Olympics for propaganda purposes and is sending Vice-President Mike Pence to the opening ceremony to counter it.
“We’re traveling to the Olympics to make sure that North Korea doesn’t use the powerful symbolism in the backdrop of the Winter Olympics to paper over the truth about their regime,” he said.
Kim Yo-jong, who shares the same mother as Kim Jong-un, will accompany the North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-Nam, whose attendance was announced at the weekend.
Born in 1987, Kim Yo-jong is said to be very close to Kim Jong-un, who is four years older than her. The two of them lived and studied in Berne, Switzerland, at the same time.
She is reportedly married to the son of Choe Ryong-Hae, the powerful party secretary.
She has been in the spotlight sporadically in recent years, with her main job being to protect her brother’s image via her role in the party’s propaganda department.
She remains blacklisted by the US over alleged links to human rights abuses in North Korea.
