Sister of Kim Jong-un to visit South Korea for Pyeongchang Winter Olympics

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister, an increasingly prominent figure in the country's leadership, will be part of the North's delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, officials say.

Kim Yo-jong, 28, will be the first member of North Korea's ruling family to visit South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Analysts say her inclusion in the Olympic delegation shows North Korea's ambition to use the Olympics to break out from diplomatic isolation 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 Olympics, North Korea is also trying to construct a fresher and warmer public image and defuse potential U.S. efforts to use the Pyeongchang Games to highlight the North's human rights record, experts say.

Kim Jong-un might also have seen that U.S. President Donald Trump was sending his daughter, IvankaTrump, to the Olympics closing ceremony and decided to match the move by sending his sister, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification.

By sending a relative, "Kim Jong-un may be trying to present himself as an equal to Donald Trump," Hong said.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said North Korea informed it that Kim Yo-jong, first vice director of the central committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party Propaganda and Agitation Department, would be part of the delegation led by the country's nominal head of state, Kim Yong-nam.The departmentcontrols ideological messaging through the media, arts and culture.

The ministry said Kim Yo-jong's schedule in the South has yet to be determined, and it wasn't immediately clear whether she will meet with President Moon Jae-in, a liberal who has expressed a desire to reach out to the North.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will attend the opening ceremonies on Friday. He has meetings with Moon scheduled for Thursday.

Pence's personal guest at the games will be Fred Warmbier, the father of Otto Warmbier, an American who died last year days after his release from captivity in North Korea.

That"suggests that their interest in engaging with the North Koreans while in Korea is pretty low," Abraham Denmark, a senior defence official under former President Barack Obama, told a conference call organized by the Wilson Centrethink tank.

'An important role'

Moon's office welcomed the decision to send Kim Yo-jong, which it said showed the North's willingness to co-operate in efforts to ease tensions in the Korean Peninsula.

"First Vice-Director Kim Yo-jong is chairman Kim Jong-un's sister who has an important role in the Workers' Party, [so her visit]is that much more meaningful," presidential spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom said in a statement read on television.

'With Kim Yo-jong, you are getting a person who's chiefly involved in designing Kim Jong-un's rule, a person whom the leader actually listens to.'- Hong Min, Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification

Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said Kim Yo-jong, as Kim Jong-un's relative and apparently one of the few people who has earned his absolute trust, carries more weight as a dialogue partner for the South than any other official the North could send.

North Korea has no intention of meeting with U.S. officials attending the Winter Olympics, theNorth's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a senior government official as saying.

Cho Yong-sam, director-general of the North American department of North Korea's foreign ministry, said the country has "never begged for dialogue with the United States and it will be the same going forward,"KCNA said.

However,Kim Yo-jong's presence would give North Korea a better opportunity to win South Korean help in reaching out to the United States, Hong said. He also said Washington may see Kim Yo-jong as an avenue to deliver messages to Kim Jong-un.

"With any other North Korean official, even the so-called No. 2 Choe Ryong-hae, you are getting a person who's just parroting orders given by Kim Jong-un," Hong said. "But with Kim Yo-jong, you are getting a person who's chiefly involved in designing Kim Jong-un's rule, a person whom the leader actually listens to."

North Korea said the delegation will also include Choe Hwi, chairman of the country's National Sports Guidance Committee, and Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the North's agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs.

The UNSecurity Council imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on Choe on June 2 last year when he was vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, the position now held byKimYo-jong.

South Korea asked the UN on Wednesday for an exemption to allowChoeto attend the opening ceremony with Kim Yo-jong.

Seoul previously said the delegation would arrive Friday, but Wednesday's statement was the first confirmation that a member of the North's ruling family will be included.

Recent promotion

Kim Yo-jong and Kim Jong-un were born to the same mother, Ko Yong-hui. They had a half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, who was killed last year at a Malaysian airport.

The war-separated Koreas are co-operating on a series of conciliatory measures during the Olympics, which the South sees as an opportunity to ease tensions with the North following an extended period of animosity over its nuclear weapon and missile programs. Skeptics think North Korea is trying to use the Olympics to weaken U.S.-led sanctions and pressure against it and buy time to advance its weapons programs.

North Korea has 22 athletes competing in the Winter Olympics but also has sent performing artists and a large cheering group.

A decision by North Korea to send the artists, including an orchestra, by sea has triggered debate in the South, where conservatives see the move as a clear indication the North is trying to use the Olympics to ease sanctions against it.

On Tuesday, the ferry carrying theNorth Korean orchestra arrived for the Games. Since it docked, North Korea has asked the South to provide oil for refuelling. Oil has taken centre stage in global efforts to curb Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs, with Washington urging a drastic cut in energy supplies to the isolated country.

Seoul exempted the ferry from sanctions to allow it in South Korean waters.

"We will closely discuss with the United States and other related nations the matter of providing convenience to the Mangyongbong ferry so that no problem regarding sanctions would occur," said Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesperson, Baik Tae-hyun.