North Korea's Kim Yo-jong to make landmark visit to South Korea
- 6 years ago
Kim Yo-jong... the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un,... will be touching down in South Korea after flying in on her brother's private jet.
Staying for three days,... she's the first member of the North's ruling Kim family to ever set foot on South Korean soil.
For more we connect to our Ji Myung-kil who's at the Incheon International Airport... the gateway to South Korea... so Myung-kil fill us in.
Mark.
Yes, given the historic nature of this visit,... there's lot of electricity in the air here.
Kim Yo-jong will be landing here at Incheon International Airport at 1:30 P.M.
As you mentioned,... she is using her brother's private jet to come with three other top officials flying over the West Sea and into Incheon.
From the airport she will likely go straight to PyeongChang to attend the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in the evening.
She will be here with the North's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam... the chairman of the National Sports Guidance Committee Choe Hwi... and the head of the North's committee in charge of inter-Korean affairs Ri Song-gwon.
Now there has been a lot of controversy as Kim Yo-jong is blacklisted by U.S. and Choe Hwi is under UN Security Council sanctions,... but those measures have been waived just for this occasion.
The 30-year old Kim, who has seen her profile within the regime rise steadily since 2014, was promoted to North Korea's politburo last year.
And there seems to be speculation Kim Yo-jong might deliver a message to President Moon Jae-in from her brother regarding inter-Korean ties or even North Korea's nuclear programs?
Yes that's right.
South Korea's presidential office has confirmed that she will be meeting with President Moon on Saturday.
We are yet to find out where they will meet, but if the meeting goes well... some experts say the visit could lay the foundations for a possible inter-Korean summit between President Moon and Kim Jong-un.
But we should stress that the summit talk is all speculation for the moment.
However, given her family ties to the young dictator... experts believe Kim Yo-jong's remarks could be taken to directly represent Kim Jong-un’s current position on inter-Korean relations.
Her visit alone could be a message from the North of its desire to mend ties with South Korea.
The bilateral meeting would symbolize a recovery of inter-Korean ties as Kim Jong-un said in his New Year's address that he badly wants to improve relations with South Korea.
If the two Koreas decide to hold a bilateral summit after the Winter Olympics... it would mark the third of its kind and first under the Kim Jong-un regime.
The first was held between President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on June 15th, 2000 and the second was held between President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il on October 4th, 2007.
Back to you Mark.
Staying for three days,... she's the first member of the North's ruling Kim family to ever set foot on South Korean soil.
For more we connect to our Ji Myung-kil who's at the Incheon International Airport... the gateway to South Korea... so Myung-kil fill us in.
Mark.
Yes, given the historic nature of this visit,... there's lot of electricity in the air here.
Kim Yo-jong will be landing here at Incheon International Airport at 1:30 P.M.
As you mentioned,... she is using her brother's private jet to come with three other top officials flying over the West Sea and into Incheon.
From the airport she will likely go straight to PyeongChang to attend the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in the evening.
She will be here with the North's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam... the chairman of the National Sports Guidance Committee Choe Hwi... and the head of the North's committee in charge of inter-Korean affairs Ri Song-gwon.
Now there has been a lot of controversy as Kim Yo-jong is blacklisted by U.S. and Choe Hwi is under UN Security Council sanctions,... but those measures have been waived just for this occasion.
The 30-year old Kim, who has seen her profile within the regime rise steadily since 2014, was promoted to North Korea's politburo last year.
And there seems to be speculation Kim Yo-jong might deliver a message to President Moon Jae-in from her brother regarding inter-Korean ties or even North Korea's nuclear programs?
Yes that's right.
South Korea's presidential office has confirmed that she will be meeting with President Moon on Saturday.
We are yet to find out where they will meet, but if the meeting goes well... some experts say the visit could lay the foundations for a possible inter-Korean summit between President Moon and Kim Jong-un.
But we should stress that the summit talk is all speculation for the moment.
However, given her family ties to the young dictator... experts believe Kim Yo-jong's remarks could be taken to directly represent Kim Jong-un’s current position on inter-Korean relations.
Her visit alone could be a message from the North of its desire to mend ties with South Korea.
The bilateral meeting would symbolize a recovery of inter-Korean ties as Kim Jong-un said in his New Year's address that he badly wants to improve relations with South Korea.
If the two Koreas decide to hold a bilateral summit after the Winter Olympics... it would mark the third of its kind and first under the Kim Jong-un regime.
The first was held between President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on June 15th, 2000 and the second was held between President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il on October 4th, 2007.
Back to you Mark.