N.Korean high-level Olympic delegation arrives in Seoul

Seoul: A high level North Korean delegation including Kim Jong-un's sister arrived here on Friday to attend the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games and to hold a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The high-level government delegation to the quadrennial event, headed by North Korea's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam, arrived at Incheon International Airport on a North Korean airplane, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The 22-member delegation includes the North Korean leader's sister Kim Yo-jong, who is also a key propaganda official of the ruling Workers' Party.

They are expected to soon travel to the eastern city of PyeongChang, located some 180 kkm from Seoul, where the opening ceremony will take place later in the day.

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Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, is also scheduled to attend a reception dinner hosted by Moon that will also involve US Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The North Korean delegates will return to Seoul for a Saturday lunch meeting with Moon, possibly at his presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

Kim Yong-nam is technically the highest ranking North Korean official to visit South Korea, while Kim Yo-jong is the only member of the Pyogyang's ruling family to have ever visited the South.

The divided Koreas have held two rounds of inter-Korean summits, in 2000 and 2007, both in Pyongyang.

The official delegation will return home Sunday.

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Pyongyang agreed to take part in the Olympics in bilateral talks with Seoul last month, which marked the first inter-Korean dialogue in more than two years.

The North has sent 22 athletes and hundreds of cheerleaders, performers and taekwondo demonstrators to PyeongChang.

A 140-member art troupe from the North performed in the eastern city of Gangneung on Thursday and will do so again in Seoul on Sunday.

The Games will conclude on February 25.

IANS