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| Hyon Song-wol, center, head of North Korea's Morangbong Band, and other delegates leave the National Theater of Korea in central Seoul, Monday. During its two-day visit, the delegation visited candidate venues for performances by a North Korean art troupe in Seoul and Gangneung during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next month. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon |
By Lee Min-hyung and Joint Press Corps
Hyon Song-wol, head of a North Korean art troupe, and her delegation returned to Pyongyang, Monday, after ending a two-day visit to South Korea to inspect venues of performances scheduled for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Before departing for Pyongyang, the seven-member delegation visited candidate venues for art performances, including Jamsil Students' Gymnasium and Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul. On Sunday, the delegates visited venues in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, after arriving in the South, and stayed at a hotel there.
From her arrival to departure, Hyon has been at the center of public and media attention. Her visit comes as two Koreas are showing signs of reconciliation after about two years of icy relations. Seoul and Pyongyang have not had any interaction since former President Park Geun-hye shut down the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, one of the few areas of inter-Korean cooperation, in February 2016.
The visit has raised hopes for a possible thaw in inter-Korean relations, while at the same time it has sparked anti-North Korean sentiment from some South Koreans.
The Korean Patriots Party - a Seoul-based civic group - staged a protest in front of Seoul Station to criticize the government's decision to give favorable treatment to the North Korean delegation. But police quelled the protest before the delegation's advance team arrived.
"The PyeongChang Winter Olympics helps boost the propaganda of the North Korean regime," the group said. "The government's decision to use a unified Korean flag is also a move to destruct the identity of the South Korean people."
In Gangneung the delegation toured the Gangneung Arts Center and other sites for Olympics performance set to be delivered by the Hyon-led Samjiyon Orchestra.
The 140-member North Korean troupe will deliver two music performances in Seoul and Gangneung, adding a festive mood to the Olympics and raising hopes that the North will cease its continued nuclear and missile threats.
But her visit has also raised protests from the public, with political sides also stepping up their criticism on Seoul's decision to form a joint ice hockey team with Pyongyang.
During the two-day visit, Hyon rarely spoke a word to the public and journalists, instead she smiled and waved without commenting on her visit.
Impressed by an enthusiastic welcome from South Koreans, she was quoted as saying: "Given the enthusiastic support from them, our performances will be completed successfully."
Hyon is one of the most famous and influential highest-ranking female figures in Pyongyang along with Ri Sol-ju, the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. She is believed to be in her 30s to 40s, but nothing specific has been revealed about her.
Escalating internal conflict
The overwhelming attention to the delegation is also fueling conflict in South Korea over whether it is proper for the government to unilaterally support the North's participation in the Games to ease inter-Korean military tension.
Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, chairman of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, said: "The Moon Jae-in administration is falling prey to propaganda disguised as a peace offer by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."
He vented his anger on the government's excessively favorable treatment of the delegation, which he said will end up taking away the nation's limelight as the Olympics host country.
"Moon is also transforming the PyeongChang Winter Olympics into the Pyongyang Olympics," he said. "This will pose a serious security threat to South Korea."
The delegation returned to Pyongyang via a land route through the Demilitarized Zone, Monday night.
No comments have been made over possible discussions it had with South Korean officials before heading back to North Korea.
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