General Kim Yong-chol was accused of masterminding deadly attacks on the South.
General Kim Yong-chol will head North Korea’s delegation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics closing ceremony on 25 February.
He is a controversial figure – and his upcoming visit has been met with hostility in South Korea.
During his time as military intelligence chief, Gen Kim was accused of masterminding attacks on the South Korea warship Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island in 2010.
He was also linked to a cyber-attack on Sony Pictures in 2014 in a bid to block the release of The Interview, a comedy film based on the North Korean regime.
North Korea flatly denies any involvement in the torpedoing of the Cheonan, in which 46 seamen were killed.
Kim Yong-chol, 72, rose to prominence as Pyongyang’s chief military negotiator during inter-Korean talks, between 2006 and 2008.
He later served as the director of the General Reconnaissance Bureau, tasked with cyber-warfare and gathering foreign intelligence, from 2009 to 2016.
In 2016, he took charge of the United Front Department, the civilian intelligence agency which supposedly operates pro-North Korean groups in South Korea and handles inter-Korean affairs.
Soon after this appointment, however, he was reportedly sent for « ideological re-education » as punishment for an « overbearing attitude », according to South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo.
