PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister arrived in South Korea on Friday to begin an unprecedented three-day visit in which she will attend the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and then sit down with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a luncheon at the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Kim Yo Jong, who is probably Kim’s closest confidant and is a senior cadre in North Korea’s ruling party, is the first member of the Kim dynasty to visit South Korea, though her grandfather, Kim Il Sung, traveled to areas occupied by his troops south of what is now the Demilitarized Zone during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The trip has the potential to become something of a coming out party – certainly for Kim Yo Jong, but also for her deeply isolated country.

Kim Jong Un hasn’t set foot outside North Korea or met a single head of state since he assumed power upon the death of their father, Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. His single-minded pursuit of a nuclear arsenal to counter what he sees as the threat of invasion by the United States has ratcheted up tensions not only with his rivals but also with primary trading partner China and with Russia, once a key benefactor.

Kim Yo Jong’s arrival was broadcast live on South Korean television. Looking confident and relaxed, she had a brief meeting with South Korean officials, including Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, before being whisked away in a black limousine and catching the high-speed train to Pyeongchang.

At the age of 30, Kim Yo Jong is probably the most powerful woman in North Korea.

She has been rapidly rising within the North’s power structure and is believed to be in charge of shaping her brother’s public persona. But she has generally remained safely cloaked in her brother’s shadow. This is her first high-profile international appearance at center stage, though she is technically just a member of a delegation headed by the North’s senior statesman, 90-year-old Kim Yong Nam.

Just before the opening ceremony, Kim Yong Nam, the highest-ranking North Korean official to travel to the South, attended a dinner for visiting foreign dignitaries hosted by Moon. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was at the dinner and was also scheduled to attend the opening ceremony. Pence did not meet with the North Korean delegates, spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said.

For security reasons, few details of Kim’s three-day itinerary have been made public.

After arriving on Kim Jong Un’s personal jet at the South’s ultramodern Incheon International Airport- the North’s flagship airline is subject to sanctions – she traveled to Pyeongchang to attend the games’ opening ceremony, where the North and South Korean athletes will march together behind a blue-and-white ”unification” flag.

That promised to be an emotionally charged moment.

The two Koreas, which remain technically at war, have cycled through countless periods of chill and thaw since their division 70 years ago. North Korea boycotted the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and blew up a South Korean commercial airliner the year before. The past year has been particularly acrimonious as the North has accelerated its nuclear weapons development and test launches of missiles that are now believed to be able to reach most or all of the United States, South Korea’s most important ally.

The delegation’s most substantive event may come outside of the Olympic ambit on Saturday.

Along with the rest of the North’s senior delegation, Kim is to have lunch with Moon in Seoul. The meeting could turn out to be just a lunch, a photo op or a nicety. But it is so unprecedented, and its announcement on Thursday was so sudden, that rumors are already swirling it could open the door to much more – perhaps even an offer for Moon to travel to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.

The North and South held summits in Pyongyang in 2000 and 2007, both hosted by Kim Jong Il.

Caution is in order here: Considering the depth and complexity of the very real problems that keep the Koreas apart, it’s highly unlikely a luncheon would lead to an immediate breakthrough on something like the North’s nuclear weapons development. Pence, who is using his visit to South Korea to underscore the Trump administration’s policy of maximum pressure on the North, has publicly and repeatedly warned Seoul not to let down its guard to a North Korean charm offensive.

Even so, just holding such a meeting seemed unimaginable only a few months ago.

During the rest of her stay, Kim will have ample opportunity to play up the feel-good side of her country’s participation in the games.

The first hockey match featuring the joint North-South women’s ice hockey will also be held on Saturday – they play Switzerland – and that would be an event she might want to see. The North has also sent a several hundred women-strong cheering squad, an orchestra with singers and dancers and a demonstration taekwondo team that will perform in Seoul and at places near the Olympic venues.

If her schedule permits, Kim might be able to take in a musical performance by her compatriots in Seoul before she departs on Sunday.

Security for anything involving the North Koreans has been exceptionally tight.

A small but persistent group of right-wing protesters has shown up at several venues to burn North Korean flags and tear up portraits of Kim’s brother. The group is fringe, but their demonstrations have generated irate reactions in North Korea’s state-run media and could potentially spin out into a major incident if they ever manage to get closer to the North Koreans themselves – or especially Kim and her entourage.

So far, police have kept the two at a safe distance.

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.</s>U.S. Vice President Mike Pence sat stone-faced as the opening-ceremony crowd erupted in cheers for the unified Korean team — showing the rift between Washington and its South Korean ally on how to deal with the North.

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — It was a moment that may well define these Olympic Games: First came smiling athletes walking side by side under a flag of Korean unity. Then the air was filled with a well-known ballad of sorrow and separation.

And finally, the stadium was full of people standing and cheering Friday in what the Olympic hosts hope could stir a movement toward easing the hair-trigger tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.

Every Olympics has its share of geopolitical back stories. But organizers of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang — which opened with a spectacle heavy with lore and symbols binding North and South Korea — have emphasized them heavily as a chance to find a new path for neighbors frozen in a Cold War-era standoff.

Yet obstacles were evident even amid the outreach. The top U.S. envoy to the Games, Vice President Pence, sat stone-faced as the crowd erupted in cheers for the unified Korean team — showing the rift between Washington and its South Korean ally on how to deal with the North’s nuclear and military ambitions.

The cheering came when athletes from North and South Korea walked together into Friday’s Opening Ceremonies under a single Korean flag in a rare display of unity.

The combined teams — dressed in white and introduced simply as “Korea” — entered the stadium under the blue-and-white “unification flag,” which shows the peninsula as one. The Pyeongchang hosts cued up “Arirang,” a poignant, centuries-old Korean folk song that is considered an unofficial national anthem.

Two hockey players — one from North Korea and another from the South — took the Olympic torch to South Korean figure skating superstar Yuna Kim to light the Olympic cauldron.

The Games are taking place just 50 miles from the border with North Korea. About 500 North Koreans, including 22 athletes, have traveled south for the Games, which will wrap up Feb. 25.

But Pence did not join the joyous welcome for Korean detente: He remained seated with his wife, Karen Pence, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while others in the VIP box rose to cheer on the Koreans.

Those on their feet included South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the two senior North Koreans sent to the opening ceremonies — Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state.

The North Korean pair were seated almost directly behind the Pences, but there was no interaction between them.

Earlier, Pence did not sit down for dinner at the reception for dignitaries that Moon hosted before the opening, instead eating with the American athletes. But Pence did call in to the reception and greeted everyone at the top table — except Kim Yong Nam, according to a South Korean presidential spokesman.

Pence “did not come across” the North Koreans at the reception, a Pence spokesman said.

The vice president’s deliberate snub to the North Koreans — and, by extension, the host country — highlighted the deep divisions between Washington and Seoul on how to deal with Pyongyang.

Moon promotes the Olympics as the “Peace Games” and hopes to use North Korea’s participation as a springboard to better relations between the estranged neighbors — and perhaps to broader denuclearization talks.

Moon warmly greeted Kim Yo Jong at Friday’s ceremony. He will host her and the other senior North Korean officials for lunch on Saturday.

Also in the North’s delegation is Choe Hwi, a senior official blacklisted by the United Nations. Seoul had to seek a special U.N. exemption for Choe to spend three days in South Korea.

Choe and Kim Yo Jong also are under direct American sanctions for human rights abuses related to their roles in censoring information in North Korea.

In stark contrast to Moon’s outreach, Pence called North Korea “the most tyrannical regime on the planet” earlier Friday, when he visited a memorial to 46 sailors who died when the Cheonan, a South Korean naval corvette, was sunk by a North Korean torpedo in 2010. Pence also heard from North Korean defectors.

Pence has been waging a campaign to stop Pyongyang from “hijacking” the Olympics with its charm offensive.

He attended the Cheonan memorial with Fred Warmbier, the father of student Otto Warmbier, who died last year shortly after North Korea sent him home in a coma following 17 months of detention for stealing a propaganda poster. Fred Warmbier also attended the Opening Ceremonies, although he did not sit in the VIP box.

South Korea’s Moon, however, left no doubt about his aspirations for the Games.

“Had it not been for the Pyeongchang Olympics, some of us might not have had chance to be together in the same room,” he said at the reception for VIPs before the Opening Ceremonies. Pence waited outside while Moon spoke because he was late, according to a spokesman for South Korea’s presidential Blue House.

“However, what is more important than anything else is that we are all here together now; we can cheer for athletes together and talk about our future,” Moon said. “We are here together and that alone will be a precious starting point for a step forward toward world peace.”

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee and a German who has spoken of his experience coming from a divided country, said that having a joint Korean team sent “a powerful message of peace to the world.”

The 23rd edition of the Winter Games kicked off with the temperature sitting about freezing, and they could be the coldest Games ever held.

The South Korean organizers built a $60 million, 35,000-seat, pentagon-shaped temporary stadium especially for the Games, but it has no roof. This part of South Korea is known for its wind — so much so that it is the place where pollock fish, a local delicacy, is hung out on lines to dry in the freezing gusts.

Organizers handed out hot-packs for feet and hands, heated seat cushions, a blanket and a hat to those attending the opening. They also built shelters around the Games’ venues.

The South Korean hosts spent about $13 billion on their Olympic effort. Almost 2,500 athletes from 93 countries will compete in 102 medal events across 15 sports.

The Games were unveiled with a dazzling display titled “Peace in Motion.”

Five children from Gangwon, the host province of the Games, represented the five Olympic rings and the five elements — fire, water, wood, metal and earth — that are believed to make up the universe.

They were led back in time by a White Tiger, taken on an adventure involving the creation myth of Korea. The stadium was illuminated with the chart of the constellations in the sky. The tiger was transformed into the Paektu mountain range, which runs from Mount Paektu in the north of North Korea to Mount Jiri in the south of South Korea.

Continuing their journey, the children arrived at a glittering gate, a gate to the future, symbolizing South Korea’s transformation into a high-tech powerhouse. Then, 1,000 residents of Gangwon province entered the stadium, holding candles in white cups and standing in formation to make a dove of peace.

The candles have particular significance in modern-day South Korea. Moon, the president, was elected after hundreds of thousands of South Koreans took to the streets for weeks on end, holding candlelight vigils to protest the previous president. That president, Park Geun-hye, was impeached and is now detained while on trial on bribery charges.

Along with the diplomatic problems, there were added headaches for the organizers.

An outbreak of norovirus led to the quarantining of large numbers of staff in the days before the Games’ opening. The number of people infected with the contagious vomiting and diarrhea bug had risen to 128 at latest count, with cases reported at three sites.

But health officials were very prepared in one area. About 110,000 condoms — a Winter Olympics record — are being distributed to athletes in Pyeongchang. That works out to about 37 condoms per athlete.

There was also bad news for Russian athletes just hours before the opening of the games. The Court of Arbitration for Sport denied a last-minute appeal filed by 45 Russian athletes who were hoping for an 11th-hour invitation to the Games.

The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker in Pyeongchang and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.</s>Choi Kang was keen to talk to Express.co.uk about the divisive stance towards North Korea held by the people of South Korea that has seen president Moon Jae-in’s public approval ratings drop as much as eight per cent. He explained: “The participation of North Korea in the games could contribute to the popularity of Kim Jong-un in domestic politics, so this could be a reason why Kim Jong-un is interested in sending athletes. “He also said at his New Year address that this is one of the biggest celebrations of the year and that is why he would like to cooperate with South Korea, he is realising that this event is a great success. “This creates a kind of good image for Kim Jong-un in South Korea, so he is trying to create what they call ‘South-South conflict’ where there is debate and conflict over a North Korea policy in the South Korean community. That could be used for North Korea’s interest.

“In the course of the negotiations surrounding North Korea’s participation in the Olympics, when the government said they were going to form a joint team and then reduce the size of South Korean athletes participating in this event, it actually damaged the South Korean government’s policy towards North Korea. “This is reflected in the drop of public approval rates of president Moon Jae-in by more than six to eight per cent now. “He has usually had a very high level of public support, but now not that much, below 70 per cent is the current situation on the Korean peninsula.

The expert added that the South Korean government is “pursuing” the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games as a “turning point” in relations with Kim Jong-un. Mr Kang declared: “The South Korean government is pursuing the Pyonchang Olympic Games as kind of a turning point in inter-Korean relations as well as a general environment on the Korean peninsula. “South Korea has tried to make it a kind of turning point, but they have been limited at the end of it because actually whether there is a future for inter-Korean dialogue will depend on North Korea’s response to the denuclearisation calls coming from the United States and from South Korea.”

Mr Kang detailed the differing responses from the South Korean public towards their government's pursuit to diffuse tensions on the peninsula. He went on: ““We are seeing different public responses than before because when we first introduced this joint flag and joint entry into the opening ceremony, the South Korean public was very much enthusiastic and very much supportive. “But now the public is much more critical towards that - this is not the first of its kind and they are concerned that their athletes are being manipulated by North Korea in this event. So actually the public attitude has become much more critical towards things going on between the two Koreas.”

A younger generation in South Korea has “lost their appetite” for a unified Korea according to the expert. The Korean War started on June 25, 1950, and resulted in a tense border situation that is still present today - as the last generations that remember what a unified country was like cease to exist, it could become harder for South Korean’s to adopt the idea of coming together with Kim Jong-un. Mr Kang said: “I think that South Korea is maybe thinking that it is not a big deal (partake in the Olympics), of course, North Korea can come, they can welcome the North Korean athletes.

“But actually inter-Korean relation opinions are varied among young people, it is not such a big subject of interest, so actually they have a lost appetite for inter-Korean relations. “But in the meantime, the government still thinks this is an important issue and they want it to be supported by the public, but this is not the case as we have seen from the public approval rate and the public’s reaction to the ice hockey team. “So I think it is not as enthusiastic as it was ten or so years ago, I think the South Korean public attitude has changed dramatically towards North Korea. They see North Korea as another country. So maybe some South Korean athletes feel they have been hijacked by North Korea in these events - that is maybe about 49 per cent of the public’s reaction to that.”</s>On the eve of the opening ceremony for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea, North Korea staged a giant military parade in its capital. Its showing of military force might justify its playing nice in the South, where a joint North-South orchestra performed together in one of the cities hosting the games.

North Korea is sending conflicting messages before the start of the Olympics tomorrow. Today it showed off the tanks and missiles it would use in war. It also showed off a sense of solidarity with South Korea. NPR's Elise Hu reports on the mixed signals.

ELISE HU, BYLINE: Thousands of goosestepping soldiers marching in perfect unison, military vehicles speeding down the streets of Pyongyang, tanks and missiles on display while Kim Jong Un and his entourage watch from a balcony above - they are scenes from today's North Korean military parade, which looked like the ones you've probably seen before. But the timing of the latest event happens to coincide with a Winter Olympics just on the other side of the inter-Korean border.

MELISSA HANHAM: Organizing this parade started a while ago. And it may be that you just can't stop something of that magnitude once it's planned.

HU: Melissa Hanham is a researcher with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. She keeps a close eye on North Korea.

HANHAM: The Olympics are important. It seems like they are sending a delegation tomorrow. And it is very likely that they are going to try to put on a good face during the Olympics.

HU: The softer face of North Korea - its artists - appeared just hours after the parade and about 50 miles south near South Korea's Olympic host city.

HU: South Korean supporters waving white unified Korea flags welcomed North Korea's musicians outside a rare orchestra performance. Kim Bok-ja was one of the few hundred who attended the concert.

KIM BOK-JA: (Through interpreter) I think this performance will help the inter-Korean relationship. We may have ideological differences, but I'm sure the emotional bond formed by culture and sports exchanges will bring us closer together.

HU: Melissa Hanham says she's not so sure.

HANHAM: One, all bets are off with North Korea, and two, they have reversed course quickly in the past.

HU: Course corrections could come from the U.S. side, too. Just before Vice President Mike Pence lifted off from Tokyo for Seoul, he emphasized the Trump administration's policy of trying to pressure and isolate Pyongyang. But he's also not ruling out contact with North Korean leaders when they all share a stadium at the opening ceremony tomorrow.

VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: We'll see if any kind of a meeting comes about in any context.

HU: One thing's certain. South Korea is trying to keep the diplomacy going. The South Korean president plans to host North Korean leaders for lunch on Saturday. That includes Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of the North Korean dictator. She'll be the first immediate member of the ruling Kim family to step foot in South Korea since the Korean War. Elise Hu, NPR News, Seoul.</s>North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang "at an early date", the presidential Blue House in Seoul said, potentially setting up the first meeting of Korean leaders in more than 10 years.

Mr Kim's sister Kim Yo-jong, who is visiting South Korea to attend the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, delivered her brother's personal invitation during a meeting with Mr Moon at the Blue House, a presidential spokesman said.

Any meeting would represent a diplomatic coup for Moon, who swept to power last year on a policy of engaging more with the reclusive North.

The recent detente, anchored by South Korea's hosting of the Winter Olympic Games, came despite an acceleration in the North's weapons programme last year and pressure from Seoul's allies in Washington.

Mr Moon suggested the two Koreas "make it happen" by creating conditions necessary for him to accept the invitation, the spokesman told a news briefing.

Ms Kim arrived in South Korea on Friday with Kim Yong-nam, the North's nominal head of state, for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in the alpine resort town of Pyeongchang.

They shook hands with Mr Moon and cheered for athletes from the two countries who marched under a unified peninsula flag for the first time in a decade.

Some North Korean experts believe tough UN sanctions that are cutting off most of the isolated North's sources of revenue have added pressure on Pyongyang to engage further with Seoul.

"I think this overture towards South Korea is partly sanctions-related, and also related to the fact that it's clear a divergence has developed between Washington and Seoul's most keenly desired goals in the near term," said Andray Abrahamian, a research fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS in Hawaii.

"The North Koreans should understand that for a summit or any kind of serious talks to occur, Moon needs to be able to take something to Washington — something that addresses denuclearisation," he said before the North's invitation to Mr Moon was announced.

A visit by Mr Moon to the North would enable the first summit between leaders from the two Koreas since 2007.</s>South Korean President Moon Jae-in shook hands with Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as geopolitics and sporting endeavor merged at the opening of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Minutes into a spectacular opening ceremony, Moon greeted a number of world leaders including Kim Yo Jong and North Korea’s 90-year-old ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam, the head of the North’s Olympic delegation.

Kim Yo Jong is the first member of the North’s ruling dynasty to visit the south since the end of the Korean War in 1953. Even months ago, such an encounter would have been unthinkable.

The two figures from opposite sides of a divided Korea watched as athletes from their respective nations marched together under a unified flag. Mike Pence, the US Vice President, who has been vocal in his criticism of North Korea in the runup to the Games, sat meters away.

The presence of Kim, who was promoted to the country’s Politburo, the senior body of North Korea’s communist party, as an alternate member last year, represents a hugely significant move in the thawing of relations between the neighbors.

According to diplomatic sources, there is a “good chance” Kim will invite Moon to visit Pyongyang “sometime this year.”

While the sources say “nothing is final,” a visit by Moon to North Korea would be the first time a South Korean President has stepped foot in the country since 2007.

That invitation could come when Moon and Kim will meet for lunch at the Blue House on Saturday, after the meeting was confirmed by a South Koeran presidential person.

A potential date could be August 15, the day Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation in 1945, a holiday marked by both Koreas.

Both watched on as the united Korea team entered the arena under the unification flag. The entire ceremony drew on themes of peace and unity.

The Korean Unification Flag features a blue silhouette of the peninsula and outlying islands. The two countries have marched under the flag before, in rare shows of unity, first at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships, and at a number of sporting events since. It was most recently used at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.</s>INCHEON/PYEONGCHANG: North Korea’s ceremonial leader and US Vice President Mike Pence may have their first face-to-face encounter today at the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, as Washington prepares more sanctions against the North.

Any contact between the two will likely be tense after Pence said South Korean President Moon Jae-in gave his backing to additional measures the United States is planning to try to curb North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes.

Pence said Moon acknowledged the effectiveness of sanctions in bringing North Korea to inter-Korean talks.

“President Moon reaffirmed to me his strong support of our extreme pressure campaign to continue to bring additional sanctions on North Korea,” Pence told reporters.

He spoke after paying tribute at a memorial for 46 South Korean sailors killed in the sinking of a warship in 2010 that Seoul blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack.

Pence arrived in South Korea on Thursday and spoke with Moon, both reiterating their commitment and cooperation to defuse tensions as North Korea pushes ahead with its weapons programmes in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, landed in South Korea today along with leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, aboard her brother’s private jet.

The white aircraft had Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name, inscribed in black in Korean on its side, followed by the North Korean flag.

Kim Yo Jong and her delegation were greeted by government officials, including Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon, before boarding a bullet train to Pyeongchang. A special train had been prepared just for the visitors, a Blue House pool report said.

Smiling and seemingly unfazed by cameras flashing during the airport meeting, Kim Yo Jong wore a black coat, matching ankle boots and carried a black purse. Dozens of South Koreans at the airport tried to snap photos of her on their mobile phones.

She is the first member of North Korea’s ruling family to visit the South, while Kim Yong Nam is the most senior North Korean official to make a cross-border trip.

The pair will have lunch with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday, Moon’s office said.

Pence has kept open the possibility for some contact with the North Koreans in South Korea, while reiterating Washington’s insistence that denuclearisation by North Korea is a necessary condition for peace.



Pence, Kim Yo Jong and other world leaders will attend the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, just 80 km (50 miles) from the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea, later today.

Hundreds of anti-North Korea protesters scuffled with riot police hours not far from the main stadium before the opening ceremony was due to begin.

”Moon regime is leading Korea to destruction” read one of the banners the protesters were holding up.

Moon will hold a welcoming reception for his top guests before the Games open, a presidential official said, where Pence and Kim Yong Nam could sit at the same table with Moon.

South Korea hopes the Olympics can demonstrate its efforts to defuse tensions and foster inter-Korean rapprochement, and athletes from the two Koreas will march together under one peninsula flag for the first time in more than a decade.

Nearly 500 North Koreans have arrived in South Korea for the Olympics, which run through to February 25, including a cheering squad, art troupe and taekwondo demonstration team.

However, the inter-Korean Olympics detente has raised concerns in Washington and Tokyo that Seoul may undermine the US-led campaign of global pressure to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes.

Moon held a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday, during which they discussed the North Korea standoff and the sensitive issue of “comfort women”, a euphemism for girls and women forced to work in Japan’s wartime brothels.

In opening remarks provided by the Blue House, Abe said he wished to reaffirm close cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the United States in regards to North Korea.

Abe said before leaving for the Olympics he wanted to convey to the world that that cooperation “will not waver”.</s>The invitation could be made at a scheduled welcome luncheon on Saturday between Moon and Kim Yo Jong.

While the sources say "nothing is final," a potential date for a trip could be August 15, the day Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation in 1945, a holiday marked by both Koreas.

Hosting an informal lunch for the high level North Korean delegation avoids any protocol format where only one main speaker has a voice. That main speaker would normally be Kim Yong Nam, the head of the delegation and North Korea's ceremonial head of state.

Sources say an informal luncheon would give Kim Yo Jong more freedom to interact with the South Koreans than anybody else in the North Korean delegation.

Political maneuvering by North Korea and statements by the United States in response threaten to overshadow the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which is due to officially start Friday. On the eve of the Games, North Korea staged a parade involving thousands of soldiers marching in unison, planes soaring above and four of Pyongyang's newest and most sophisticated missiles, the Hwasong-15. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watched all of it from a balcony above and gave a rousing speech in which he warned about the dangers of imperialism in the world. Sources say it was noteworthy that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un didn't mention the word "nuclear" during his speech, instead choosing to refer to his country as having "developed into a world class military power." Images broadcast on North Korean state television showed huge formations of people marching in unison, and row of tanks and weapons. However sources say the parade plans were "scaled down at the last minute." South Korean President Moon is seeking to continue a meaningful dialogue with North Korea, but he's also under pressure from the United States to disengage from Pyongyang after the Olympics and join Washington in a campaign of "maximum pressure." Sources say an invitation for Moon to visit North Korea may be a continuation of Pyongyang's efforts to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington. While North Korea has stated it has no intention of meeting with the United States at the Olympics, Kim Yo Jong is expected to use her visit to South Korea to attempt to thaw relations with China, which has been stepping up enforcement of unprecedented sanctions against North Korea, resulting in billions of dollars in trade losses for both countries.</s>SEOUL, South Korea —Kim Jong Un’s sister touched down in Seoul on Friday ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, becoming the first member of her family to visit the South since the Korean War.

Arriving on her brother’s private jet for a three-day visit, Kim Yo Jong smiled as a group of South Korean officials, including Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, greeted her and the rest of the delegates at Incheon International Airport.

She is slated to attend the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang on Friday, before meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the presidential palace on Saturday.

Moon has been trying to use the games as an opportunity to end the diplomatic stalemate with North Korea and eventually resolve the international standoff over its nuclear program.

But skeptics say North Korea, which is unlikely to give up its nukes under any deal, is just using the Olympics to poke holes at the U.S.-led international sanctions against the country and buy more time to further advance its strategic weaponry.

After all, the delegation arrived just one day after Kim Jong Un presided over a massive military parade that highlighted the country's intercontinental ballistic missiles, which could potentially reach the U.S.

As first vice director of the Central Committee of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party,Kim Yo Jong has been an increasingly prominent figure in North Korea's leadership and is considered one of the few people who has earned her brother's absolute trust.

Analysts say the North's decision to send her to the Olympics shows an ambition to break out from diplomatic isolation and pressure by improving relations with the South, which it could use as a bridge for approaching the United States.

By sending a youthful, photogenic person who will undoubtedly attract international attention during the games, North Korea may also be trying to craft a fresher public image and defang any U.S. effort to use the Olympics to highlight the North's brutal human rights record.

It remains unclear whether Kim will send a personal message to Moon through his sister and, if so, whether it would include a proposal for a summit between the two leaders.</s>Progress in communication between North and South Korea on Saturday prompted concern in the Japanese government that Seoul may rush into dialogue with the North at the expense of the pressure campaign espoused by Japan and the United States.

"South Korea might run off ahead on a course of dialogue," a senior Foreign Ministry official said in the wake of talks in Seoul between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and a high-level North Korean delegation sent to attend the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics the day prior.

The delegation gave Moon a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inviting him to visit the North, a day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and Moon had affirmed their shared stance of maximizing pressure on Pyongyang until it scraps its nuclear program.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters in Saga Prefecture that dialogue between the two Koreas must be "based on the premise that North Korea will change its basic nuclear and missile policies."

Officials in Tokyo suspect North Korea is trying to chip away at the united front of the United States and its East Asian allies as international sanctions bite the hermit country. Japan's focus is now likely to be on fortifying trilateral cohesion with South Korea and the United States.

The Abe administration is in favor of maintaining the diplomatic and economic pressure campaign regardless of the thaw between the two Koreas over the Olympics, arguing that yielding to dialogue on North Korea's terms would mean effectively accepting it as a nuclear power.

"North Korea seems to have no intention of abandoning its nuclear (program)," a Japanese government official said.

While Tokyo has not condemned recent talks between the two Koreas insofar as they concern participation in the Pyeongchang Games, Abe warned Moon during their Friday meeting against North Korea's "smile diplomacy."

North Korea's overtures to the South have included sending as part of its delegation Kim Yo Jong, the current leader's younger sister, who is thought to be one of his closest aides.

"It's clear to see that Kim Jong Un's agenda is to get a dialogue offensive under way," a Japanese government source said.

"By sending the sister to South Korea and seeking a visit by the president, North Korea is probably trying to give the impression that it's taking the lead on dialogue," another source close to the government said.

According to a diplomatic source, some in the Abe administration "would not oppose the very idea of talks" between Moon and Kim "if they would entail (Moon) pressing North Korea to denuclearize."

But most, a source close to the prime minister's office said, feel that "dialogue is meaningless unless North Korea says it will abandon nuclear weapons in a verifiable and irreversible manner."
South Korean President Moon Jae-in hosts talks at the Blue House with North Korean President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong-nam and Kim Jong-Un's sister Kim Yo-jong.