SEOUL (KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – North Korea is seeking ways to mend ties with South Korea and open talks with the United States to ease sanctions on the communist regime by sending a member of the Kim dynasty as a delegate to the Pyeongchang Olympics, experts say..
SEOUL (KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – North Korea is seeking ways to mend ties with South Korea and open talks with the United States to ease sanctions on the communist regime by sending a member of the Kim dynasty as a delegate to the Pyeongchang Olympics, experts say.
On Wednesday (Feb 7), North Korea informed South Korea that its leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister Kim Yo Jong, first vice director of the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, would be part of the delegation led by the country’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam.
The delegation also includes Choe Hwi, chairman of the National Sports Guidance Committee, and Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country – an agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs.
« Kim Yo Jong is a messenger for Kim Jong Un. She is expected to deliver the exact intentions and thoughts of the North Korean leader about the regime’s approach to the nuclear issue, » Kim Yeon Chul, professor at Inje University told The Korea Herald.
« The fact Kim Yo Jong is coming here proves that Kim Jong Un views the current situation very seriously and seeks to ease sanctions on the backdrop of the Olympics, » he said, citing that sanctions have taken a toll on the North’s economy.
Kim Yo Jong is the first member of so-called « Baekdu bloodline » to visit South Korea. North Korea’s founding principles reportedly stipulate the supremacy of the « Baekdu bloodline » to seek a legitimacy for the Kim dynasty’s continued inheritance of the country’s leadership.
« Kim Jong Un might be thinking that it would be good to talk to the US, but if it doesn’t happen, he would at least seek to improve relations with South Korea, » Kim said.
