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Hyon Song-wol, the director of the Samjiyon performance group, arrives at Seoul Station along with six other members of a North Korean advance inspection team on Jan. 21. (Photo Pool)
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The seven members, including Hyon Song-wol, took a KTX train from Seoul to Gangneung
On Jan. 21, seven members of a site review team for the Samjiyon performance group – including band director Hyon Song-wol – arrived in South Korea to visit facilities in the city of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, where the group is expected to perform during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. This was the first time for North Korean officials to visit the South since President Moon Jae-in took office. Hyon and the other members of the team crossed the border at the inter-Korean transit office at Dorasan Station on the Gyeongui Line that morning and soon boarded a KTX high-speed train at Seoul Station bound for Gangneung. This was the first time for the Gyeongui Line overland route to be used in two years, since the Kaesong Industrial Complex was closed in Feb. 2016. Hyon’s team visited sites in Gangneung where the band might perform, including the Hwang Yong-Cho Memorial Sports Center and the Gangneung Culture and Art Center, which is capable of seating around 1,000 people. Hyon is planning to head to Seoul on Jan. 22 to inspect additional concert venues. She will wrap up her two-day schedule that evening and then return to North Korea. In related news, North Korea sent a cable on Jan. 21 approving a request made by the South the previous week to dispatch its own advance team. This opens the door for a team of 12 members under Lee Joo-tae, director of the Unification Ministry’s Bureau of Cooperation and Exchange, to cross into North Korea on the East Sea Line oversea route on Jan. 23. Lee’s team will review the facilities at the Masikryong Ski Resort and at Mount Kumgang where joint training and a joint cultural event will be held, along with the Kalma International Airport, located near the ski resort. North Korea reportedly intends to send another advance team to South Korea from Jan. 25 to 27, consisting of eight officials, led by Yun Yong-bok, deputy director of the Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports. Yun’s team is planning to cross the border on the Gyeongui Line overland route and inspect the lodgings of the North Korean athletes, the site of the Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies, the athletic stadiums and the press center. By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer and Noh Ji-won, staff reporter Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
