Top North Korean Official Will Visit South Korea During Olympics<br />4, 2018<br />SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea plans to send a high-level government delegation to South Korea to attend<br />the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics this week, South Korean officials said on Sunday.<br />Kim Yong-nam will be the highest-ranking North Korean official to visit South Korea since Mr. Choe<br />and two other senior officials attended the closing ceremony of the 2014 Asian Games in the South Korean city of Incheon.<br />The 22-member delegation will be led by Kim Yong-nam, the president of the Presidium of North Korean Parliament,<br />the South Korean government announced, citing a notice it received from the North late Sunday.<br />Some analysts expected Kim Jong-un to allow Choe Ryong-hae, a senior party official widely considered his right-hand man,<br />to lead the North Korean delegation to Seoul this week despite his being blacklisted by the South Korean government.<br />Mr. Kim, who is not related to Kim Jong-un, the country’s supreme leader, is often referred to as North Korea’s nominal head of state<br />because he receives visiting heads of state, approves the credentials of ambassadors and represents North Korea on state visits abroad.<br />Kim Yong-nam is expected to meet President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, whose government has been hoping for a high-level delegation from Pyongyang.
