Following the first high-level talks between North and South Korea in more than two years, negotiators from both sides of the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) announced this morning they had struck a deal on attending February’s Pyeongchang Games.
However, officials from the secretive North have yet to reveal their chief delegate for the 17-day event, and speculation is rife over who will stand in for dictator Kim.
A series of international sanctions targeting both the North Korean regime and individual officials could block such senior members of the ruling Workers’ Party from attending.
But despite the obstacles, analysts and media in the South have tipped either the supreme leader’s right-hand man, Choe Ryong-hae, or his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, as favourites to represent the pariah state.
Choe serves as vice chairman of the State Affairs Commission and was elected as a member of the party’s military commission last year, according to Bloomberg.
But the 67-year-old is currently on Seoul’s financial sanctions list, which could block him from travelling south of the border.
Twenty-something Kim Yo-jong has quickly risen through the ranks of the Workers’ Party and is now part of her brother’s inner circle.
But she too is under sanctions from the US Treasury Department for the regime’s human rights violations.
Kim Yong-nam, 89, a veteran former foreign minister who previously attended the 2014 Winter Olympics, has been touted as a possible third option.
Shin Beomchul, a professor at Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul, told Bloomberg: “If Kim Yo-jong were to come, it’ll be the first time for any Kim family member to visit South Korea.
“If the North sends a top official such as Choe Ryong Hae or Kim Yong Nam, they could at least exchange messages with Mike Pence on the sidelines.
“They could hold conversations aimed at exploring talks.”
Pyongyang has agreed in principle to send a delegation of officials, athletes, and “cheer squad” to the Winter Games, which being on February 9.
Negotiators revealed they had also struck a deal on marching under the same flag, as well as forming a joint women’s ice hockey team.
But Japan has urged caution to its allies in Seoul, warning the North should not be trusted and that the talks were simply a “charm offensive” aimed at reducing sanctions.
Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono said: “It is not the time to ease pressure, or to reward North Korea.
“The fact that North Korea is engaging in dialogue could be interpreted as proof that the sanctions are working.”