hankyoreh

in this image from the Sep. 7 edition of the Rodong Sinmun newspaper. To Kim’s right is his wife

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with a foreign delegation for the first time in two years and three months.

“On Sep. 7, Kim Jong-un met with a state delegation from the Republic of Cuba that was led by Comrade Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez, who is a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, the first chair of Cuba‘s State Council, and Cuba’s first vice president,” North Korea’s state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sep. 8.

This is the first time that Kim has met foreign officials visiting North Korea since his meeting with Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao in July 2013.

Prior to this, there had only been four occasions when the North Korean media had covered Kim meeting foreign delegations since Kim took power in Dec. 2011 - three delegations from China, including Li Yuanchao, and one from Russia.

“It is significant for Kim Jong-un to meet a foreign delegation again after so long. This can be seen as a signal that he’s going to initiate diplomatic activity, beginning at home,” said professor Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

Accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-ju, Kim attended a congratulatory performance by the Moranbong Band and the Merited State Chorus of the Korean People’s Army along with the Cuban vice president and other Cuban dignitaries.

Since the Moranbong Band had not been seen since mid-July, there was speculation that it had been dissolved because some members had gotten married and others were kicked out, but on Tuesday it drew applause from the Cuban delegation by singing songs including “Isle of Capri” and “Guantanamera.”

Other North Korean dignitaries attending the concert were Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong-so, Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-kwan, and Kim Ki-nam, Choe Ryong-hae, and Kim Yang-gon, all KWP secretaries.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

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