North Korea to send high-level delegation to Pyeongchang Winter Olympics closing ceremony
The South Korean Ministry of Unification revealed today that North Korea will send a high-level delegation to the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics next Sunday.
The delegation will be composed of eight members and will be led by Kim Yong-chol, head of the United Front Department of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (PTK), and Ri Son-gwon, president of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.
"The government believes that the dispatch of the North Korean delegation will help improve inter-Korean relations and bring peace to the Peninsula, including the denuclearization of the North," the South Korean ministry highlighted, according to a report by the news agency Yonhap.
The visit of the North Korean delegation coincides with the visit of Ivanka Trump, daughter and advisor to US President Donald Trump, who will arrive in Seoul tomorrow Friday for a four-day stay, although it is unknown if she will meet with the North Korean delegation.
North Korea sent a high-ranking delegation to the opening ceremony on February 9, which included Kim Yong-nam, ceremonial head of state, and Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Kim Yo-jong handed South Korean President Moon Jae-in a letter from her brother in which he invited him to visit North Korea in the near future.
The inclusion of Kim Yong-chol in the North Korean delegation will likely provoke controversy as he is blacklisted under Washington and Seoul's unilateral sanctions, the report from South Korea's state news agency highlighted.
Kim, former head of North Korea's Reconnaissance Office, is suspected of orchestrating two deadly attacks by Pyongyang in South Korea in 2010, the sinking of the warship Cheonan and the bombing of Yeonpyeong Island.
It is believed that General Kim, 72 years old and known as a hardliner, was the mastermind behind the planting of landmines on the inter-Korean border, which severely injured two South Korean sergeants in August 2015.
The military officer led the North's General Reconnaissance Bureau, which is responsible for foreign intelligence operations and cyber warfare, and it is known that the bureau was behind the alleged cyber attack by Pyongyang against Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014.
Meanwhile, Ri Son-gwon, a member of the high-level delegation and head of the state agency responsible for inter-Korean affairs, is also known as one of Kim Yong-chol's closest collaborators.
According to experts, North Korea seems to be trying to test South Korea's determination to improve inter-Korean relations by sending Kim, a move that is sure to anger conservatives in the South.
After Kim Yong-chol's visit was confirmed, several opposition lawmakers expressed strong objection to the visit and called on the government to rescind its acceptance of receiving the North Korean delegation.
"The South's Ministry of Defense previously concluded that it is difficult to determine who was specifically responsible for the sinking of the warship," responded Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon to the lawmakers.
The minister admitted that Kim is on the blacklist due to the South's unilateral sanctions in 2016 on the North's nuclear weapons and missile provocations, but assured that the trip was not problematic, as the sanctions involve asset freeze, not a travel ban.
South Korea is hopeful that the participation of their northern neighbor in the Winter Olympics will help alleviate tensions that escalated last year due to North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.
President Moon hopes that the engagement driven by the Olympics and improved inter-Korean relations will pave the way for broader dialogue between the United States and North Korea on denuclearization.