Western Media calling Kim Jong Nuke sister "Ivanka Kim"

[Tony Tan]

http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/perso...jong-uns-baby-sister-ivanka-trump-north-korea



Kim Jong-un’s baby sister: the Ivanka Trump of North Korea
Kim Yo-jong first entered the public eye during one of North Korea’s darkest moments. Now she is back on stage for one of its brightest – helming Pyongyang’s Olympic charm offensive

By David Josef Volodzko

9 Feb 2018

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From Eric Clapton to Dennis Rodman, she has scripted an image makeover with a finesse few would have expected of the hermit kingdom.

As North Korea takes the stage with the opening of the Pyeongchang Olympics, its sudden shift from menacing hermit to engaging debutante is attributed to Kim Jong-un’s baby sister Kim Yo-jong, who is said to be the mastermind behind a rebranding campaign that includes her brother befriending Dennis Rodman, staging photo ops at amusement parks and possibly even accepting South Korea’s invitation to the Olympics.

Kim Jong-un’s sister arrives in South Korea in landmark visit
The deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department within the Worker’s Party, she first entered the public eye in 2011 at one of the darkest points in North Korean history, during the funeral of her father, Kim Jong-il. Now she appears on the world stage at arguably the brightest moment in its recent history, blazing the trail with a stunning Olympic charm offensive.

A television screen in Seoul shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his sister Kim Yo-jong. Photo: AP

That offensive intensified this week, with the announcement that she would attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics, marking the first time a member of the Kim family has ever entered the country, and sparking hope in the hearts of South Korean liberals that this is a genuine shot at peace. Some worry, though, that the two Koreas have all their work still ahead of them when it comes to peace. “Unification is needed,” said Kim Moon, a coffee shop manager in eastern Seoul, “but the logistics for both countries to adapt to each other’s cultures might not be possible”.

WATCH: Ahead of the Winter Olympics, a North Korean delegation arrives in Seoul – to protests and police
Others fear that North Korea’s charm offensive is merely a ruse. Its Samjiyon Orchestra, expected to perform at the opening ceremony and again on February 11, is led by Hyon Song-wol, an N-pop star who is also the director of the regime’s agitprop bureau. In addition to the 140 orchestra members, North Korea has sent 229 cheerleaders, 30 taekwondo players, a host of reporters and a government delegation.

Hyon Song-wol, head of North Korea's Samjiyon Orchestra. Photo: Rueters

But Kim Yo-jong stands out among them as a notably stark contrast to the typical North Korean official. She was spotted attending an Eric Clapton concert in Singapore in 2011 and is usually seen smiling beside her elder brother as he tours factories and farms. Known in the South as “North Korea’s Ivanka”, she is believed to have her brother’s ear, and lived for a time in veritable isolation with him while they studied together in Switzerland in the late 1990s.

North Korea’s Olympic charm effort: US handshake for Kim’s sister?
In South Korea, she will join Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s 90-year-old president of the committee that rules the legislature, which makes him the country’s nominal leader and its de facto second-in-command. US Vice-President Mike Pence, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will also be at the opening ceremony, which has had analysts initially excited about the possibility of an unprecedented meeting. Such a meeting would be a dream come true for Moon, who has staked enormous political capital on Pyeongchang.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Photo: EPA

The possibility of such a meeting loomed larger this week when Pence was asked about meeting North Korean officials and replied, “I have not requested a meeting, but we’ll see what happens.” A day later, the vice-president – who has brought as a guest to the opening ceremony the father of Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who was imprisoned in North Korea, released in a vegetative state and then died soon thereafter – announced while meeting Abe in Japan on his way to Korea that the United States would soon “unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever” in an effort to force it to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes “once and for all”.

‘Pyongyang Olympics’: How North Korea stole the Winter Games
North Korea’s KCNA new agency announced the following day that it had no intention of meeting US officials during the Games, after which Pence said that the US expected the recent rapprochement between the two Koreas to end once the Olympic Games are over. But there is still hope that Kim’s sister will deliver a message from her brother, and if she does, a senior presidential aide told the JoongAng Ilbo this week, the Moon administration is willing to consider sending a special envoy to Pyongyang.

Hopefully it will soon become clear whether she is here to here to make peace, or is simply the smiling face of a disarming new kind of warfare. On Saturday, Kim Yo-jong will have a lunch with Moon.

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“It’s a nuclear issue, right?” said Kim Namkyu, professor of political science at Sungkyunkwan University, who added that the lunch with Moon and Kim Yo-jong’s visit as a whole was likely to have no significant impact on such matters. “But in terms of the present moment,” he said, “it is a de-escalation.”


https://tw.news.yahoo.com/冬奧開幕-副總統潘斯與金正恩胞妹零互動-164600502.html

冬奧開幕 副總統潘斯與金正恩胞妹零互動

世界日報World Journal
397 人追蹤
世界日報
2018年2月10日 上午12:46
平昌冬奧8日熱鬧揭開序幕，南韓總統文在寅與北韓領導人金正恩胞妹金與正在開幕會場握手，創下歷史一刻。但在同一場合，美國冬奧代表團團長、副總統潘斯（Mike Pence）雖然在貴賓席跟金與正僅有幾步之遙，兩人之間卻零互動，沒有握手，也沒有交談。

金與正不但是金正恩的胞妹，也是他的親信。由於在領導人身邊具有「直達天聽」的權力，金與正被部份美國媒體喻為「北韓伊凡卡」。

年約30歲的金與正這次隨北韓奧運代表團抵達南韓，創下從1950年至1953年的韓戰以來，第一位到南韓踏上「破冰之行」的北韓金氏家族成員。

在冰點低溫當中登場的冬奧開幕儀式會場，透過國際奧林匹克委員會（International Olympic Committee ）主席巴赫（Thomas Bach）介紹下，穿著白色外套的文在寅與身穿黑色大衣的金與正各自帶著笑容，完成歷史一握。

文在寅伉儷接著在貴賓席第一排就座，左側就坐著身穿紅藍白三色外套的潘斯伉儷。金與正的位置在文在寅後方的第二排。

雖然潘斯與金與正的座位近在咫尺，但兩人並沒有任何互動，連打照面也沒有。

2014年11月，北韓官方媒體宣布金與正的職銜為朝鮮勞動黨中央委員會副部長。2016年5月，她在朝鮮勞動黨第七次代表大會當選中央委員。2017年10月，金與正進一步出任朝鮮勞動黨中央政治局候補委員，正式晉身進入決策階層。

相關新聞影音" data-reactid="18"> 相關新聞影音


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★想看HBL賽事、LIVE直播明星名嘴、高清動漫戲劇、電競直播，就上Yahoo TV！一起看、一起聊

 

[ToaPehGong]

Luckily her surname is not Chng.

 

[Shut Up you are Not MM]

平昌冬奥会举行开幕式
2018年02月09日 19:44:32 | 来源： 新华网

　　2月9日，朝鲜劳动党中央委员会第一副部长金与正（右三）在开幕式上。 当日，2018年平昌冬奥会开幕式在平昌奥林匹克体育场举行。新华社记者吕小炜摄



平昌冬奥会举行开幕式
2018年02月09日 19:44:32 | 来源： 新华网

　　2月9日，韩国总统文在寅（下左）与朝鲜最高人民会议常任委员会委员长金永南（上左）与朝鲜劳动党中央委员会第一副部长金与正（上右）在开幕式上。当日，2018年平昌冬奥会开幕式在平昌奥林匹克体育场举行。 新华社记者吕小炜摄

 

[Taksama_b_l]

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/ea...-with-north-korean-leaders-sister-kim-yo-jong


South Korea President Moon hosts talks with North Korean leader's sister Kim Yo Jong as US keeps up pressure
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, and North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong Nam, arrive at a meeting room at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on Feb 10, 2018. PHOTO: AFP
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PYEONGCHANG (REUTERS) - South Korean President Moon Jae In met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister on Saturday (Feb 10), hoping to translate Olympics detente into meaningful progress towards resolving a tense standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programmes.

Mr Moon hosted talks and a lunch with Ms Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of the North Korean leader, at the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Ms Kim Yo Jong flew in to the South on her brother's private jet on Friday before she and other North Korean officials attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in the alpine resort town of Pyeongchang.

Mr Moon and Ms Kim Yo Jong had their first face-to-face encounter at the opening ceremony. They shook hands and cheered for athletes from the two countries who marched under a unified peninsula flag for the first time in a decade.

Ms Kim Yo Jong is the first member of the ruling Kim family bearing the bloodline of the sacred Mount Paektu, a centrepiece of the North's idolisation and propaganda campaign, to cross the border into the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The 28-year-old is a crucial part of the North's Games delegation led by Mr Kim Yong Nam, North Korea's nominal head of state.



She shook hands with Mr Moon and smiled faintly as the South Korean leader entered a meeting room at the Blue House on Saturday.

"I appreciate you stayed late out in the cold, are you all well?" Mr Moon asked the delegation, before reporters were ushered from the room.

The delegations shared a lunch of dried pollack dumpling soup, a regional specialty of the only divided province on the Korean peninsula, and soju, a spirit popular on both sides of the heavily militarised border.

South Korea's President Moon Jae In greets Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, and North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong Nam, during their meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on Feb 10, 2018. PHOTO: AFP


EXTREME PRESSURE
Mr Moon’s desire to engage North Korea was in contrast to his US ally. US Vice President Mike Pence also attended the opening ceremony but had no contact with the North Korean delegation.

Some North Korean experts believe tough UN sanctions that are cutting off most of the isolated regime’s sources of revenue might pressure Pyongyang to further engage with Seoul.

“I think this overture towards South Korea is partly sanctions-related, and also related to the fact that it’s clear a divergence has developed between Washington and Seoul’s most keenly desired goals in the near term,” said Andray Abrahamian, a research fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS in Hawaii.

“The North Koreans should understand that for a summit or any kind of serious talks to occur, Moon needs to be able to take something to Washington – something that addresses denuclearisation,” he said.

North Korea conducted its largest nuclear test last year and said it had developed a missile capable of carrying a warhead to the United States. US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leadership traded insults as tensions rose.

Mr Pence said the United States and South Korea were closely aligned in their approach to dealing with North Korea.

“I am very confident, as President Trump is, that President Moon will continue to stand strongly with us in our extreme-pressure campaign,” Mr Pence told NBC in an interview, maintaining all options were open to deal with the crisis.

“Make no mistake about it, the United States of America has viable military options to deal with a nuclear threat from North Korea but, that being said, we hope for a better path,” he said.

In Washington, China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi told Trump that China hoped it and the United States could increase their coordination on the North Korea issue. The United States has repeatedly pressed China, North Korea’s most significant trading partner and main ally, to do more to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile ambitions.

An official travelling with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Pyeongchang told reporters the Japanese government believed sanctions were “starting to bite”, citing recent instances of ship-to-ship transfers at sea.

SACRED BLOODLINE
The two Koreas have a rocky and sometimes violent history at the Blue House. In January 1968, Ms Kim Yo Jong's grandfather, founding North Korean president Kim Il Sung, sent a squad of North Korean commandos to Seoul who tried unsuccessfully to kill then-president Park Chung Hee.

Although Ms Kim Yo Jong ranks diplomatically lower than Mr Kim Yong Nam, as Mr Kim Jong Un's sister she is considered more important in North Korea.

"By virtue of her family ties, Kim (Yo Jong) is among the most credible interlocutors that North Korea could have sent," said Christopher Green, a senior adviser on Korean affairs at the International Crisis Group think tank.

"If there is a message to be conveyed to South Korea or the US, she is amply well positioned to convey it," he said.

Ms Kim Yo Jong cuts a contrasting figure to her brother in North Korea's formal and tightly controlled state propaganda.

Rather than stand nervously around Mr Kim Jong Un on visits to official factories, she has moved to the front of media photos more recently, giggling, assisting her brother at state events or collecting flowers presented to him by young children.

She is also a vice director of the ruling Workers' Party's Propaganda and Agitation Department, which oversees and directs state censorship and propaganda.

It was that position which led the US Treasury Department to blacklist her last year for censorship and "severe human rights abuses".

The young North Korean leader and his sister were favourites of their father, who ruled North Korea from 1994-2011. Mr Kim Jong Il's sushi chef, Kenji Fujimoto, nicknamed them North Korea's "Prince" and "Princess" because of their upbringing and closeness to the former North Korean leader.

 

[Taksama_b_l]

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/kimchi-diplomacy-for-two-koreas-in-olympic-rapprochement


Kimchi diplomacy for two Koreas in Olympic rapprochement
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, Ms Kim Yo Jon (left), and North Korea's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam sit before a meeting with South Korea's President Moon Jae In, on Feb 10, 2018. PHOTO: AFP
PUBLISHED
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SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's president ate kimchi and drank soju liquor with the North's ceremonial head of state and the sister of its leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday (Feb 10), even as the US warned against falling for Pyongyang's Olympic charm offensive.

South Korean President Moon Jae In hosted the elderly Kim Yong Nam - technically the highest-level Northern official ever to go to the South - and Pyongyang's star representative Kim Yo Jong at the presidential Blue House for the landmark meeting.

Smiling, he shook hands with each of the delegates ahead of their formal talks, and television footage showed that Ms Kim Yo Jong - who analysts expected to bring a personal message from her brother - was carrying a blue folder emblazoned with a seal.

There is speculation Pyongyang could invite President Moon to visit for a summit later this year.

The nuclear-armed North's delegation is the diplomatic highlight of an Olympics-driven rapprochement on the divided peninsula.

Tensions between the two soared last year as Pyongyang tested missiles capable of reaching the US mainland and its most powerful nuclear device to date, while Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.



The North is subject to multiple rounds of UN Security Council sanctions over its banned weapons programmes. Analysts believe its diplomacy is seeking to weaken the measures against it, and could be trying to loosen the alliance between Seoul and Washington.

Mr Moon shook hands with both Ms Kim Yo Jong and Mr Kim Yong Nam at the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, and they cheered as athletes from North and South entered the arena together behind a unification flag showing an unbroken Korean peninsula.

US Vice President Mike Pence, who was seated in the same box, did not interact with the North Koreans at any point, US officials said.

He also did not shake hands with Kim Yong Nam while making a brief appearance at a leaders' reception ahead of the ceremony - although Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose country is also regularly threatened by Pyongyang, did so, while exchanging pleasantries with the North Korean.

"We are determined to make sure that even in the midst of the powerful background & idealism of the Olympics, the World is reminded of the truth about North Korea," Mr Pence tweeted on Friday.

He also reiterated the Trump administration's stance that the US would take whatever "action is necessary to defend our homeland", including military operations, as it seeks to denuclearise the North.

"We're going to continue to put all the pressure to bear economically and diplomatically, while preserving all of our military options to see that that happens," Mr Pence told NBC.

'ROYAL FAMILY AIR'
Mr Pence has repeatedly said he would deliver a tough message to the North in any meeting.

In stark contrast, two kinds of kimchi - the fermented cabbage that features in every Korean meal - were on the menu for lunch, a Blue House official told AFP, one mild Northern style version and a spicier Southern recipe.

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South Korea President Moon hosts talks with North Korean leader's sister Kim Yo Jong as US keeps up pressure
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The officials would also drink soju, the Korean rice alcohol, together.

The North's presence in the South has dominated Olympic headlines, with the winter sports festival triggering a flurry of cross-border trips culminating in the diplomatic delegation.

All eyes have been on Ms Kim Yo Jong, who has rapidly risen up the ladder since her brother inherited power from their father.

She is now among his closest confidantes, and is the first member of the dynasty to set foot in the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

She has been demonstrating a very different demeanour than she does in the North, said Korean Peninsula Future Forum analyst Duyeon Kim.

There, she was deferential, she tweeted.

"Here, she projects Royal Family air, power, nose held high w/slight smirk saying she's superior over South, & charm w/smiles, sass."

The Rodong Sinmun, the official mouthpiece of the North's ruling party, carried seven pictures of the group's departure from Pyongyang and arrival in Incheon on its front page Saturday.

On page two it printed seven more of the opening ceremony and its representatives' meetings and handshakes with Mr Moon, whom it described as president.

It is rare for the North's official media to refer to the South's leader as president, usually describing them as chief executive or similar, and even more unusual for a picture of them to be shown.

The paper lambasted Pence for his "anti-DPRK lunatic spasm which does not fit the spirit of the Olympics".

"We don't do such treacherous and dirty things exploiting sports festivals for political purposes like the US does," it insisted.

 

[AntonKiasi]

KNN she's still the sister of a sadist