Kim Jong Un’s sister arrives in South Korea

Kim Jong Un’s sister has landed in the South Korea, the first member of Pyongyang’s ruling dynasty to set foot in its rival since the Korean War.

Kim Yo Jong is part of a high-level diplomatic delegation led by the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam – its highest-level official ever to go to the South – as the Winter Olympics trigger a diplomatic rapprochement between the rivals.

Their white Ilyushin-62 jet, marked in Korean script ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’, the North’s official name, and its tailfin emblazoned with a Northern emblem, touched down at Incheon airport near Seoul.

North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam (bottom) and Kim Yo Jong (centre), North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sibling, made their way to a train station upon their arrival

A North Korean delegation led by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister Kim Yo Jong and president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly Kim Yong Nam leave the Incheon International Airport in South Korea

Their white Ilyushin-62 jet, marked in Korean script ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’, the North’s official name, and its tailfin emblazoned with a Northern emblem, touched down at Incheon airport near Seoul

The last member of the Kim family to set foot in Seoul was Yo Jong’s grandfather Kim Il Sung, the North’s founder, after his forces invaded in 1950 and the capital fell.

Three years later the conflict ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula divided by the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, and the two sides technically in a state of war.

Now the North is subject to multiple rounds of UN Security Council sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, while the democratic South has risen to become the world’s 11th-largest economy.

Kim Yong Nam and Kim Yo Jong, both of them in dark coats with fur collars, were met by the South’s unification minister and other officials.

Their trip is the diplomatic high point of an Olympics-driven rapprochement between the two Koreas.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has pushed the Games as a ‘peace Olympics’ that will open a door for dialogue to alleviate tensions on the peninsula and seek to persuade Pyongyang to give up its atomic ambitions.

The delegation was due to take a high-speed train to Pyeongchang, where the Olympics opening ceremony would be held later Friday, and attended by US Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

But all eyes are on Yo Jong — a key member of the Kim dynasty that has ruled the impoverished, isolated nation with an iron fist and pervasive personality cult through three generations.

A South Korean official welcomed Kim Yo-jong and Kim Young-nam (right), president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly

North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam (second right) and Kim Yo Jong (second left), North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sibling, talk with South Korea’s Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon (not pictured)

North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam (second left) and Kim Yo Jong (centre), headed to a train station upon their arrival at Incheon airport, west of Seoul

The last member of the Kim family to set foot in Seoul was Yo Jong’s grandfather Kim Il Sung, the North’s founder, after his forces invaded in 1950 and the capital fell

Kim Yong Nam and Kim Yo Jong, both of them in dark coats with fur collars, were met by the South’s unification minister and other officials

Their trip is the diplomatic high point of an Olympics-driven rapprochement between the two Koreas

Who is North Korea’s head of state? 90-year-old Kim Yong Nam is unquestionably loyal to the Supreme Leader

Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state and leader of the North’s high-level government delegation 

North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam is a career diplomat whose unquestioning loyalty has ensured his survival for decades in the regime’s top ranks.

Kim, who turns 90 this month, has served the North’s ruling Kim family for three generations, despite periodic purges of the Workers’ Party.

Leader Kim Jong Un had his own uncle executed for treason two years after coming to power, and his half-brother Kim Jong Nam was assassinated in a Malaysian airport last year, but Kim Yong Nam – who is not a close blood relative of the ruling family – has always survived.

Analysts ascribe his longevity to his suave manner and reliable devotion.

‘He has never been considered a threat to the regime,’ said professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies.

‘He is an amiable technocrat who faithfully follows the leader’s directions,’ he told AFP.

South Korean analysts have nicknamed him ‘Tape Recorder’, he added, ‘as he always parrots what has been said by the supreme leader’.

Kim Yong Nam arrived in the South Friday for a three-day visit, at the head of the North’s diplomatic delegation to the Winter Olympics, accompanied by leader Kim’s sister, two other senior other officials, and 18 support staff.

As president of the presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the North’s rubberstamp parliament, he is the country’s ceremonial head of state and technically the highest-level Northern official ever to visit the South.

But he is largely considered a figurehead whose public diplomatic role, representing the country at international events, leaves it unclear how much political power he really has.

He issues letters of credit for North Korean diplomats and receives foreign representatives, but Kim Jong Un holds the real authority as the Supreme Leader and head of the Workers’ Party.

Kim Yong Nam’s diplomatic roles were especially convenient for the current leader’s late father and predecessor Kim Jong Il, who was known for a propensity to avoid contact with foreign guests, according to analysts.

‘He is not a politician but a typical technocrat who has spent decades handling international relations,’ said Yang.

But he pointed out that whenever the North’s state media reel off the names of officials who attend ceremonies, ‘Kim Yong Nam’s name always comes next after that of Kim Jong Un.’

‘This means he is the number-two in the official party ranks,’ he added. 

According to the South’s Unification Ministry, Kim Yong Nam was born in February 1928 in Pyongyang.

He studied at the North’s prestigious Kim Il Sung University before graduating from Moscow University in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in international relations.

He was recruited into the international affairs department of the party’s Central Committee, where he started moving up the career ladder, becoming its head in 1972.

He has spent his entire career in Pyongyang, and in 1983 the North’s founder Kim Il Sung named him as foreign minister.

Under Kim’s son and successor Kim Jong Il he was elevated to his current position in 1998.

As the head of state, he took part in both North-South summits in Pyongyang, meeting South Korean president Kim Dae-jung in 2000 and his successor Roh Moo-hyun seven years later.

He will meet his third South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, at a lunch on Saturday.

Pyeongchang will also be his third Olympics – he led the North’s delegations to Beijing in 2008 and Sochi four years ago. 

Members of the family are widely revered in the North as ‘Paektu bloodline’, named after the country’s highest mountain and hailed as the supposed birthplace of the late leader Kim Jong Il.

Many analysts suggest Yo Jong may be carrying a personal message from her brother to his dovish South Korean counterpart Moon.

Tensions have been high on the peninsula since last year when the North staged its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and test-fired multiple long-range missiles, some of them capable of reaching the US mainland.

Leader Kim and US President Donald Trump exchanged threats of war and personal insults, sparking global alarm and fears of another conflict on the peninsula.

But Kim abruptly announced a plan to send athletes and high-level delegates to the Pyeongchang Winter Games in his new year speech, setting in motion a flurry of cross-border talks and activities.

The announcement – following months of cajoling by Seoul – is seen as a bid to defuse tensions and try to seek a loosening of the sanctions against it.

The delegation will take a high-speed train to Pyeongchang, where the Olympics opening ceremony would be held later Friday, and attended by US Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has pushed the Games as a ‘peace Olympics’ that will open a door for dialogue to alleviate tensions on the peninsula and seek to persuade Pyongyang to give up its atomic ambitions

Police line outside the gate for the express train station at Incheon airport 

Many analysts suggest Yo Jong may be carrying a personal message from her brother to his dovish South Korean counterpart Moon

Hundreds of athletes, cheerleaders and artistes have already arrived in the South and the North’s state orchestra gave one of two planned concerts in the South on Thursday night to a packed audience.

But the latest rapprochement has met a backlash in the South with many accusing Seoul of making too many concessions to the wayward neighbour that even pushed ahead with a military parade on Thursday in Pyongyang in a showcase of its military might.

Conservative activists also accused Pyongyang of ‘hijacking’ the South’s Winter Olympics and have held angry protests by burning the images of the leader Kim or the North’s national flag near venues where North Koreans made public appearances.

US Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the US delegation to the Olympics, renewed a call for ‘maximum pressure’ on the North to force it abandon its nuclear weapon during a meeting with Moon Thursday.

But he did not rule out a meeting with the North’s delegates during the Games, saying there ‘may be a possibility for any kind of an encounter with North Koreans,’ whether informal or formal.