Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Kim's new interpreter debuts
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's interpreter Sin Hye-yong is heading to the Metropole hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, Wednesday. Sin was newly appointed as Kim's interpreter for this second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam. / Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
The new interpreter of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un came to the stage at the Hanoi summit, replacing former interpreter Kim Ju-song who translated North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's speech during the first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last June.
Accompanying Kim is Sin Hye-yong, according to a press release from the U.S. presidential office on Wednesday.
Not much is known about Sin, who hadn't been identified by the media until the beginning of the summit. She made her debut when Kim met with Trump at Hanoi's century-old Metropole hotel where they had dinner together on the first day of the summit. Since then, she has been translating Kim's every word into English for Trump.
The interpreter is the only person who is allowed to join the one-to-one meeting between the leaders, and is likely to be highly trusted by the North's regime with her English ability.
A North Korean woman worked as an interpreter at the meeting between Kim and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in October, but it is unknown whether it was Sin or not.
Previously, Kim was accompanied by Kim Ju-song who is known as a member of the foreign ministry of North Korea. According to the book “Password from the Third Floor” written by Thae Yong-ho, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to the South in 2016, the interpreter graduated from Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies and worked for the ministry's translation department.
Critics say the reason behind the change of interpreters was likely due to the possibility that Trump's female interpreter Lee Yun-hyang, who accompanied the U.S. president for the first summit and this time, attracted media attention as the sole female figure, which somewhat derailed the summit.
Lee has worked with the State Department and White House under former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and served Trump last November during a visit by South Korean President Moon Jae-in. She is known to have earned a master's degree in interpretation and translation from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul and received a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting at the University of Geneva in 2009.