state and other top officials to cheer on a joint Korean team.

Kim Yo Jong is not only the leader’s sister, but a senior official at the ruling Workers’ Party, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The 229-strong cheer squad all wore black fur caps and knee-length red coats. The cheerleaders were part of a 280-member delegation on its way to the Winter Olympics.

The women eventually arrived at the Inje Speedium, a racetrack and hotel complex where they will be staying for the Games.

She was blacklisted last year by the US Treasury Department over human rights abuses and censorship last year.

Kim Yo Jong is vice director of the party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department which handles ideological messaging through the media, arts and culture.

After security controls, the entire groupleft for the Olympics venue in the alpine resort town of Pyeongchang.

Their arrival comes a day after a North Korean ferry crossed the border carrying a 140-strong orchestra to perform during the Games. The cheer squad arrived in the South alongside 26 taekwondo performers, 21 journalists and four North Korean Olympics committee members. North Korean cheerleaders arrive at a rest stop as their bus carrying a 280-member delegation heads to Pyeongchang. North Korea announced earlier this year that it will send beautiful women to support their athletes at the Olympics.

North Korea has asked South Korea to provide oil to refuel the vessel, the Unification Ministry said on Wednesday.

Oil is a sensitive issue and has taken centre stage in global efforts to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes.

North Korea