Things to Come and Go

Kim Yo-jong (김여정), sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (김정은) and Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, has spoken out twice in two days in favour of a resumption of peace talks with South Korea, but “only if impartiality and mutual respect are guaranteed”, she said. In such case, a summit could be held “at an early date through constructive discussions”.

Musically Speaking

The First Ladies of the two Koreas, Ri Sol-ju and Kim Jung-sook spent their Tuesday in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, while their husbands sat down for their third summit. First they visited a children’s hospital, and then the Kim Won-gyun Conservatory — the country’s top music college — where they eventually attended an orchestra performance.

Catwalk

Vice Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea Kim Yo-jong (pictured above, centre) reappeared on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea to personally welcome South Korean President Moon Jae-in on his official visit to the “Capital of Willows” for a much-anticipated meeting with Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un, the third inter-Korean summit this year. Photo: Pyongyang Joint Press Corps.

Original Autographed Ticket Memorabilia

Vice Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea Kim Yo-jong enjoying a visit at Marina Bay Sands SkyPark in Singapore just on the eve of the historic summit between her brother and U.S. President Donald Trump. Photo: Mark Cheong/The Straits Times

The Guest Book

The agreement signed by Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. United States committed themselves to cancel any joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for North Korea’s denuclearisation. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images.

Cloud Dynamics

And finally, U.S. President Donald Trump (seated right) and North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un (seated left) signed what Trump called a “very important” document at their summit in Sentosa Island, Singapore, with the North Korean promising “complete denuclearisation” and the American pledging security guarantees for Pyongyang. Just in the background are two major figures of this non-improvised première, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (standing right) and the Vice Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea Kim Yo-jong (standing left) exchanging a document after it was (hopefully) signed. Photo: AFP/Yonhap News Agency.

레드 카펫 (Red carpet)

Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, arriving at the St. Regis Hotel in Singapore on the afternoon of June 10, 2018. She will attend the first-ever meeting summit between her brother and U.S. President Donald Trump, which is to be held on Tuesday on the resort island of Sentosa. Photo: Yonhap News Agency.

Satellite repeaters

• Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington, Benjamin Haas in Seoul, and Justin McCurry in Tokyo, Donald Trump says North Korea summit could be back on, The Guardian, May 25, 2018

Donald Trump has suggested his summit with Kim Jong-un could still go on as planned, marking yet another dramatic reversal for the U.S. President who just a day earlier canceled the meeting in a letter to the North Korean leader. [Read more].

Asked if North Korea was playing games, Donald Trump responded: “Everybody plays games”. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Poor but Proud

Apparently, U.S. President Donald Trump has had to cancel the summit with Kim Jong-un after the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Choe Son-hui (pictured above) defiantly called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a “political puppet”. Everything started last Monday when Pence, in order to sabotage the good running of the negotiations, envisioned for North Korea the “Libya model”, saying it wasn’t a threat but “more of a fact”. Choe Son-hui should not probably have allowed herself to be drawn into such a rude provocation, that Pence wanted to make at all costs, despite Trump’s disavowal to the “Libya model” comments previously provided by his hawkish national security advisor John Bolton. Photo: SBS News.

Dress rehearsals

Through a threatening letter from his staff, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled (but possibly delayed) the scheduled June 12 summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, blaming his decision on the lack of acquiescence by the Pyongyang government, and warning that the U.S. military is “ready if necessary”. However, beyond his big words, nobody is fully convinced by his reasons. “Expectations were overblown for the North Korea summit, and there are legitimate reasons to question whether Kim Jong-un is serious about giving up its nuclear weapons, but Trump’s letter is an overreaction and ignores the role that top officials played in provoking this crisis”, Mrs. Kelsey Davenport, Director for Non-Proliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, said.

A sculpture titled Trattenere 6, 8, 12 anni di crescita (Continuerà a crescere tranne che in quel punto) | Holding 6, 8, 12 years of growth (It will continue to grow except at that point), by Giuseppe Penone, part of an exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Bretton, United Kingdom. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA.

The Making of a Fashion Model

Time Odds

On Friday, May 4, 2018 at 23,30 local time (15,00 GMT) North Korea’s clocks moved forward 30 minutes to midnight. Until then, they had been on Pyongyang Time, which was half a hour behind South Korea and Japan. The synchronisation may be regarded as “the first practical step” to speed up the pacification of Korea, the official KCNA news agency said. The picture above shows the light shining on the band of the Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’s Party of Korea Mrs. Kim Yo-jong’s wristwatch. Photo: Seosomun Photo Agency.

⊾

Kim Yo-jong performing in a masterly “90 degree bow” (90도 인사) to President of the People’s Republic of China 习近平 (Xí Jìnpíng) at a dinner party following the 大连 (Dàlián) summit on May 7. Photo: Korean Central Television.

Harmony of Colours

President of the People’s Republic of China 习近平 (Xí Jìnpíng) met Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), in 大连 (Dàlián), northeast China’s 辽宁省 (Liáoníng province), on May 7–8. As usual, Kim Jong-un was accompanied by her younger sister Kim Yo-jong, Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, who attended all the talks related to China–North Korea relations as well as other issues of mutual concern. Photos © Jajusibo.

But when the host offered a welcoming toast to begin a ceremonial banquet, and the guest lifted a chalice of red wine in her hand, then suddenly, the rest was silence. Photos © Jajusibo.

Pink and Blue

From left: North Korean First Lady Ri Sol-ju and South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook walking together the red carpet at the summit meeting banquet on Friday, April 27, 2018. Photo: kyunghyang.com.

And clicking the glasses, the two presidential couples toasted cheers. Photos: kyunghyang.com.

Trading Places

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (left) and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (right) opened the historic Inter-Korean summit at the military demarcation line in Panmunjom, South Korea on April 27, 2018 with a highly symbolic 20 seconds long handshake. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.

Hand in hand, they took their first steps on the southern side in Panmunjom. Kim Jong-un is the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South since the end of the 1950–1953 Korean war. Photo: EFE.

Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, too, took part in the meeting held in a blue-carpeted conference room on the second floor of the Peace House, and on her arrival, she was warmly welcomed by Moon Jae-in. Photo: hani.co.kr.

Then the two delegations sit down for the summit meeting. Photo: Newsis.

And finally, Kim Jong-Un’s inscription in the visitors’ book: “A new history begins now. An era of peace, the starting point of history”. Photo: Aflo/Rex/Shutterstock.

And last but not least, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and First Lady Kim Jung-sook (right) toast North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and First Lady Ri Sol-ju (left) toast during a banquet held in Panmunjeom on Friday. Photo: Yonhap.

White Lilac

North Korea’s women’s firsts Ri Sol-ju (Lilac) and Kim Yo-jong (White) attending the Chinese ballet 红色娘子军 (Red Detachment of Women) performance at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre in Pyongyang, North Korea on April 17, 2018. Photos: Newsis.

Tomorrow Never Knows

South Korea’s K-pop singers will make four-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea from March 31 to April 3 and give two performances as an exchange of courtesy after North sent performers to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the South’s Ministry of Unification said in a statement.

Shading and Blending

North Korea, South Korea, and United States might hold a trilateral summit meeting to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula and ensure peace in the region, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said attending a board meeting of the South Korean preparatory committee for the upcoming North-South summit on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, as reported by the Yonhap News Agency.

Swiss President Alain Berset shakes hands with Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, during the preliminary round of the women’s ice hockey game between Switzerland and the combined Koreas at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea on Saturday, February 10, 2018. Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images.

우리은하 (Milky Way)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is actually considering to send his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, to Washington, United States to foster direct talks between the U.S. administration and Pyongyang, the South China Morning Post reported citing an unnamed South Korean diplomatic source.

Kim Yo-jong. Photo: edaily.co.kr.