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.

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.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

Halmstad, Sweden: A table tennis player from South Korea shows a selfie she has taken of the teams from South and North Korea at the World Team Table Tennis Championships. North Korea and South Korea told the organisers they did not want to compete against each other in the women’s quarter-final. Photo: Christian Bruna/EPA.

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.

A Night at the Ballet

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un elevated his wife Ri Sol-ju to the status of “First Lady”, a move that analysts say will signal a deep change in North Korean society’s power balance.

North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) referred to Ri Sol-ju as the “respected First Lady” in its report on her weekend attendance of a Chinese ballet performance in Pyongyang, the title being a step up from the usual “comrade” that she had previously been afforded.

All the world’s a stage

The above picture, released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 2, 2018 and taken on April 1, 2018 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (centre left) speaking to South Korean performers as his wife Ri Sol-ju (far left) and South Korea’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Jong-hwan (centre right) look on, after a concert by South Korean musicians at the 1,500-seat East Pyongyang Grand Theatre in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo: AFP/KCNA via KNS.

Kim Jong-un is the first North Korean leader to publicly attend a performance by South Korean artists in Pyongyang and was “particularly interested” in Red Velvet, a K-pop girl band. Photos: AFP/KCNA via KNS.

And finally, here are Kim Jong-un (back, centre) and his wife Ri Sol-ju (second row, sixth from left) posing with South Korean musicians after their performance in the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo: AFP/KCNA via KNS/Getty Images.

Women in Fashion

China’s censorship authority blocked and banned any mention of Kim Jong-un’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, after several users of Chinese social media commented that North Korea’s First Lady was more elegant and better dressed than Chinese First Lady 彭丽媛 (Péng Lìyuán). Both First Ladies were filmed or pictured in at least three different outfits during Kim’s two-day stay in 北京 (Běijīng), China. Photo collage: iask.ca.

Round Trip Ticket by Train

The above picture, released Wednesday, March 28, 2018 by China’s 新华社 (Xīnhuá News Agency), portrays Chinese President 习近平 (Xí Jìnpíng), second from right, and his wife 彭丽媛 (Péng Lìyuán), right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, second from left, and his wife Ri Sol-ju, left, posing for a photo at the Great Hall of the People in 北京 (Běijīng), China. The Chinese government confirmed Wednesday that North Korean leader paid an “unofficial” visit to People’s Republic of China from March 25 to 28 (round trip ticket by train) in his first known visit to a foreign country since taking power in 2011. The most likely purpose of Kim’s visit was to outline all details before his impending April summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Photo: 鞠鹏 (Jū Péng)/新华社 (Xīnhuá News Agency) via AP.

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.

All the world’s a stage

South Korean envoy delegation Chung Eui-yong meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Kobangsan Guesthouse in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, the superstar of the last Winter Olympics, is standing next to him on the right. North Korean leader told his guests he hopes to “write a new history of national reunification”. Photo: South Korean Presidential Office Handout/EPA.

Kim Jong-un, his wife, and his sister Kim Yo-jong also personally hosted a dinner for the South Korean delegation at Ryongsong Residence. Photo: Handout/AFP/Getty Images.

Flying High

America’s First Daughter Ivanka Trump attended the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on February 25, 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She chose to significantly distinguish herself from the “non-diplomatic behaviour” ostentatiously shown by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence at the opening ceremony, by standing and clapping when both North and South Korean athletes entered the stadium during the closing ceremony. Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images.