hankyoreh

Ri Son-gwon

A North Korean delegation headed by Workers’ Party Central Committee vice chairman and United Front Department (UFD) director Kim Yong-chol is scheduled to visit South Korea for three days on Feb. 25–27 to attend the Pyeongchang Olympics closing ceremony on Feb. 25.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to meet with the delegation. With a US delegation headed by White House adviser and aide and President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump scheduled to arrive for a four-day visit on Feb. 23, many are watching to see whether a North Korea-US meeting may occur.

North Korea sent a notice of its plan on Feb. 22, the South Korean Ministry of Unification explained. The North Korean delegation is to consist of eight members, including Kim and Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) chairman Ri Son-gwon and six attendants, who are to travel South overland via the Gyeongui railway line.

chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland

With Kim’s delegation scheduled to remain in the South for two days after the closing ceremony ends, various formats of inter-Korean dialogue are expected to take place, including a meeting with Moon.

“My understanding is that President Moon will avail himself of the natural opportunity to meet with the North’s delegation,” a senior Blue House official said.

“Since they’re going to be here anyway, I imagine there will various discussions on inter-Korean relations and achieving peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula [in addition to attending the closing ceremony],” the official continued.

Moon is scheduled to meet the delegation at the closing ceremony on Feb. 25. He is also seen as likely to meet the members at the Blue House on Feb. 26 and host them for a lunch or dinner.

The fact that the delegation includes both Kim and Ri, who respectively head North Korea’s UFD and CPRF, has some predicting their South Korean counterparts, National Intelligence Service director Suh Hoon and Minister of Unification Cho Myoung-gyon, may meet with them for in-depth discussions.

Kim’s visit comes two weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had his sister, Workers’ Party Central Committee first vice director Kim Yo-jong, deliver a letter as special envoy inviting Moon to visit Pyongyang. The delegation’s visit is expected to include follow-up measures to Kim’s visit, along with an exchange of views on various areas in inter-Korean relations.

With Ivanka Trump scheduled to visit South Korea at the head of a US delegation on Feb. 23–26 to attend the closing ceremony, many are also watching to see if a North Korea-US meeting occurs following a previous failed attempt between US Vice President Mike Pence and Kim Yo-jong. The Blue House announced that measures and “national security strategy guidelines” in connection with the North Korean high-ranking delegation’s visit had been reviewed at a National Security Council standing committee meeting on Feb. 22 presided by National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong.

Kim Yong-chol is currently targeted by independent South Korea and US sanctions. The US added him to its list of sanctions targets in Aug. 2010 after identifying the then-People’s Army General Staff Reconnaissance General Bureau (RCB) director as being responsible for the ROKS Cheonan sinking. The Ministry of Unification explained that Kim’s visit would be allowed on the grounds that “the high-ranking North Korean delegation’s attendance at the closing ceremony will assist in providing an occasion for achieving advancements in the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula, including improvements in inter-Korean relations and denuclearization.”

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Noh Kyu-duk said Seoul was in “close discussions with the US” on the sanctions issue. The Liberty Korea Party and Bareunmirae Party sternly protested the visit, calling it “unthinkable” to “allow the culprit behind the Cheonan sinking to set foot on the Republic of Korea’s soil.”

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer and Kim Bo-hyeop, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]