NK senior official meets world leaders in Rio

By Jun Ji-hye

Choe Ryong-hae, vice chairman of North Korea’s State Affairs Commission, watches the men’s 56 kilogram weightlifting contest at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday. / Yonhap

Choe Ryong-hae, a high-ranking North Korean official leading the regime’s delegation at the Rio Olympic Games, has been meeting with world leaders in the Brazilian city in an apparent effort to seek diplomatic breakthroughs amid a worsening economy and deepening isolation.

According to Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Sunday, Choe, vice chairman of the State Affairs Commission and a close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, met with Interim Brazilian President Michel Temer, Friday.

During the meeting, Choe expressed the North’s willingness to “develop friendly and cooperative relations with Brazil.”

Temer responded that Brazil will also boost its relations with the North, the KCNA said.

North Korea and Brazil established diplomatic relations in March 2001. The North opened its embassy there in 2005, while Brazil opened its embassy in Pyongyang in 2009.

Choe, who currently doubles as head of North Korea’s Physical Culture and Sports Commission, has also met with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, International Judo Federation (IJF) President Marius Vizer, heads of state of Switzerland and San Marino and the vice presidents of Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Zambia, according to the KCNA.

The KCNA said Bach “expressed deep thanks” to the North Korean leadership for sending a high-level delegation to Rio and also expressed the hopes of the IOC to boost cooperative relations with the North.

Observers say the repressive state is apparently trying to use sports diplomacy to play the role of a normal country in the international arena and break away from its international isolation and pressure in the wake of the regime’s fourth nuclear test in January and a series of missile launches in the following months.

However, it remains to be seen if the North could gain immediate effects in improving its national image, as meetings with major powers such as China have not taken place.

“Choe does not appear to be meeting with officials from major powers such as China and Russia,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. “Though the North seeks sports diplomacy, it would be difficult to anticipate an immediate impact on its external image or its relations.”