Talks about N Korea Spice Girls singing at Winter Olympics

Talks are to begin about a North Korean all-female band, whose members are reportedly chosen by Kim Jong-un himself, performing at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

The North confirmed it would attend next month’s Olympics in the South at a rare inter-Korean meeting last week, following months of tensions over its nuclear weapons programme.

The two Koreas will hold talks next week to discuss the North’s plan to send Moranbong to the Pyeongchang games, Seoul’s unification ministry said on Saturday. 

Hyon Song-wol (left), leader of the North Korean girl-band, is pictured arriving at a Beijing hotel in 2015

The Moranbong band is an all-female music group performing pop, rock and fusion styles, and have been compared to the Spice Girls in the past.

They play instruments as well as sing and are led by Hyon Song-Wol, an ex-girlfriend of the North Korean leader.

She is one of four North Korean delegates who will attend the talks in the truce village of Panmunjom, on Monday.

She was rumoured to have been executed in September 2013 alongside dozens of singers and dancers for reportedly making pornographic film.

Last year they performed a show celebrating North Korea’s nuclear programme and footage from the concert, which was attended by Kim Jong-un and aired on state television, showed the band dressed as sailors.

The all-female group are reportedly chosen by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un himself

News of the talks came as the South had proposed marching with the North at the Olympics’ opening ceremony and forming a joint women’s ice hockey team.

A joint march at the opening ceremony would be a stunning statement for the Games dubbed the ‘Peace Olympics’, which will open about 50 miles (80 kilometres) from the heavily fortified Korean border on February 9.

North Korea boycotted the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, meaning Pyeongchang will be the first Olympics they have attended in the South.