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KRT via Reuters TV
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a pre-school as an unidentified woman stands near him in Pyongyang in this undated image aired that aired on state TV on Sunday.
BEIJING – It was her third public appearance by the side of North Korea’s new leader Kim Jong Un. This time the “mystery woman” was wearing a striking yellow polka-dot dress, with a chic Chanel-style white tweed jacket and matching ivory toe-open high heels, in state television footage of a recent visit by Kim to a preschool in Pyongyang.
Her appearance in public again – she is thought to be the same woman who recently appeared with Kim at a Disney-inspired concert – was a rare spectacle, stirring up speculation that changes are coming to the isolated nation.
The “mystery woman,” coupled with the surprise announcement by the country’s official news media on Monday that North Korea’s veteran army chief was relieved of all his posts, apparently due to illness, also stoked suspicion. It was the first major purge under the seven-month-old regime of Kim Jong Un, who inherited leadership of the authoritarian regime after his father died last December.
The intriguing combination of fashion display and military purge is fueling debate among North Korea watchers in Beijing and Seoul on whether or not the moves signal a new policy direction from the Pyongyang regime. Some argue the 29-year-old new leader may be trying to remove old guards from his regime who could stand in the way of a reform program to revitalize the impoverished country.
A wife, a sister?
But back to the mystery woman: who is she?
There has been no official confirmation of the identity of the glamorous woman who appeared at Kim’s side at three recent public events. She first attracted global curiosity when she was shown watching a July 7 cultural performance with Kim that featured Minnie Mouse and other Disney characters, the theme song from “Rocky 4”and groups of female singers dressed in mini-skirts, high-heeled shoes and off-the-shoulder tops.
KCNA via AP
In this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and distributed in Tokyo by the Korea News Service on July 9, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center right, and a woman clap with others as they watch a performance by North Korea's new Moranbong band in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, July 6, 2012.
Other top officials who watched the show included Kim’s uncle Jan Song-Taek, widely seen as the power behind the throne. The concert itself, shown to the public by North Korean TV, tended to play up Kim’s reputation as avid fan of Western pop culture. He was reportedly fond of American basketball when he was studying in Switzerland during the 1990s, wore Nike sneakers and drove Harley Davidson motorcycles.
Some South Korean observers said that the woman could be Kim’s sister, Kim Yeo-Jong. But his sister later appeared on state TV during a mourning event for Kim Jong Il, their father, and she looked unmistakably slimmer and different from the “mystery woman.”
Others pointed to a popular singer Hyon Song Wol, with hits like “I Love Pyongyang” and “Excellent Horse-like Lady.”
But more recent reports from Seoul say that she is Kim’s wife. She is reported to be a 27-year-old graduate from Kim Il-Sung University. So far, however, there hasn’t been any official confirmation from North Korea on the woman’s identity.
The buzz about the glamorous “mystery woman” comes amid increasing reports, noted in South Korea and China’s blogosphere, of more entertainment and choices in the daily lives of the North Koreans.
Visitors to the isolated country report more women wearing fashionable outfits, young men using hair gels in the style of South Korean actors and private markets in Pyongyang operating more flexible hours.
Kim has lifted the ban on women wearing trousers in public which has proved extremely popular. North Korean TV has also shown images of Kim visiting amusement parks and fast food restaurants that sell pizza, hamburgers and French fries, Western delights once banned in the country.
High-heel shoes rank second among the 10 most popular consumer items for North Korean women, according to an analysis by the Samsung Economic Research Institute.
Close eye from China
North Korea watchers in China are keeping a close eye on developments for any signs of real change in the “Hermit Kingdom.”
The idea of “opening up” the long reclusive country should be encouraged, according to a commentary in China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.
“Northeast Asia’s geopolitical development should encourage North Korea’s opening up instead of repeatedly creating tensions that will only intensify Pyongyang’s caution and vigilance,” argued Global Times commentator Shen Renping.
In one sign of economic change, there have been reports that 20,000 workers from North Korea will be sent to China to work in manufacturing sectors. According to Chinese analysts, Kim is set to declare a comprehensive economic reform program “in August or September.”
Referring to the recent ouster of Kim’s former mentor and North Korean army chief Ri Yong Ho, a Chinese North Korea expert told AP Television that Kim was signaling “North Korea is going to slowly change the policy of putting the military first” and to experiment with “economic reform.”
The Chinese scholar Wang Junsheng called on the international community to “wait for the next steps” and to give Kim “time and a comfortable environment.”
However, another leading Chinese foreign policy scholar urged caution in drawing any conclusions about a North Korean reform program.
“I think North Korea has changed a lot already since Kim Jong Il died. But in terms of policy and diplomacy, I see little indication of change,” Professor Shi Yinhong, who teaches international relations at Beijing’s Renmin University, told NBC News.
Referring to North Korea’s nuclear and security policies, Shi Yinhong cautioned that “it is too early tell” whether North Korea will change.
“I see no substantial indication of opening up…Bringing some women along is very normal and doesn’t have much critical meaning,” he added.
Researcher Tianzhou Ye contributed to this report in Beijing.
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Now that North Korea has "the bomb", maybe they can start reducing their military budget and concentrate on the people first instead of the military first.
Why? ...we aren't
Maybe all their war-monges are saying Universal Healthcare is the devil's playground also
Where has it been reported, that North Korea has the bomb? If they did (still doubtful) they have proven they can't deliver it. The last few missle tests over the Sea of Japan, went kaput! They are quite a bit behind the times. They are certainly devoted to the "Glorious Leader" but still live without most modern conveniences. Sad, I'm sure they are nice people, although somewhat gullible, governed by foolish men.
All I could think of when I read @marlen101917's comment is "Somebody set up us the bomb".
Any chance the "mystery woman" in the article is Marlen's mentioned "bomb"?
Go Zig! For Great Justice!
The fact is N. Korea's military is in charge more than little Pugsly, he will have to shake it up in order to see any changes in his regime.
Lusitania, "Pugsly" Ha, ha. Perfect name! I wish I had thought of it...
I'm so ronery
So Kim Jong Number Un has taken himself a peasant girl.
My thoughts exactly. Nice story though MSN. Way to end with quote that completely invalidates the entire article.
What on earth does "stylish" have to do with this?
At least our President has been smart enough to not bomb over there, we better not get another Bushy who will do anything to "create jobs" (like in the past) for the mil industry, even making a lot of bombs, like Vietnam made billions for business--perfect job creators, as well as making new planes, and we kill a few more from here to save on SS/disability.
>>>... Sad, I'm sure they are nice people, although somewhat gullible, governed by foolish men...<<<
Kinda like us, huh?
@ShawnD,
Were you asleep in geography? The Seoul-Inchon corridor is right up against the DMZ. That means that 40$ opf South Korea's population and most of its industry along with its major port, capital city, and political and financial capitals are within heavy mortar range of North Korean forces dug in along the DMZ. There are literally tens of thousands of artillery, guided and unguided rocket, and heavy mortars along the DMZ. All are heavily dug into "peek and shoot" positions and are pre-surveyed. Ask a soldier what that means.
In the case of all out war with North Korea, the Seoul-Inchon Corridor along with about 200,000 ROKA and 20,000 forward-deployed US soldiers would mostly evaporate in one huge San Diego fireworks display. Any reasonably smart high-school student with access to fissile materials could build a workable nuclear weapon using 1940's technology. What was difficult in 1940 can be bought cheaply in any camera store. The trick is to make it compact enough to be carried long distances easily. North Korea currently makes its own SCUD B variants that can easily take a Hiroshima-level-technology weapon to almost any point in the South. They may not be incredibly accurate, but they are 16 times as accurate as the German V-2 which managed to hit London with great regularity.
North Korea has also been trading nuclear technology with Iran in return for rocket technology. The multi-stage liquid-fueled rocket that failed recently has little to no military value. Military missiles that take three days to prepare for launch are not all that significant since you have three days to stop the launch. Conclusion: the multi-stage rocket that failed probably was intended to launch a comunications as they stated. What will make western muilitary analysts anxious is when they start manufacturing Iranian-derived solid fuel rockets with ranges in the 1200nm range (IRBM.) These would be very significant.
I was a North Korean intelligence analyst for a number of years. These people are neither stupid not crazy. They are very smart people who have been successfully playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship since 1953. They know exactly what they are doing and they also know they hold all the aces.
But when there are signs of a shakeup in the regime, there is always an extremely high probability that North Korea will try some sort of provocative incident with South Korea, US or Japanese forces within the next 60-90 days or so. The North Koreans do this to "exercise" the chain of command while looking for any hint of disloyalty, incompetence, or even hesitation.
The other thing that could be going on (I would give it a very remote chance personally) is that new North Korean leadership is taking a long hard look at Myanmar's (Burma's) swing to much greater economic and individual freedom. It would be easy to make a case in Myanmar that the generals who run the country politically might be more interested in being on the ground floor of a suddenly hot and expanding economy. North Korea could do the same thing as Myanmar. Where Myanmar had to pretty much go it alone, North Korea could, with some fairly simple and straight-forward reforms get huge cooperation from South Korea, Japan, and China. That's why China is calling for "breathing room" for the new regime and why the US is taking somewhat of a wait-and-see approach.
Chris-749391: You sound intelligent enough and knowledgeable enough...to scare the hell out of me. It's posts like yours that I pay attention to.
Chris, For whom were you a No Korea intellegence analyst,Disney? If the North Korean just THOUGHT about an attack,it would require movement of troops and materials to their border in preparation The forces would be destroyed in days of implementation of an attack plan!You are naive!
SHAWN:
On October 9, 2006, the North Korean government issued an announcement that it had successfully conducted a nuclear test for the first time. Both the United States Geological Survey and Japanese seismological authorities detected an earthquake with a preliminary estimated magnitude of 4.3 in North Korea, corroborating some aspects of the North Korean claims.[4]
In April 2009, reports surfaced that North Korea has become a "fully fledged nuclear power", an opinion shared by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.[5] On May 25, 2009, North Korea conducted another nuclear test, which is believed to have been the cause of a magnitude 4.7 seismic event.[1] Although there is no official information about the test's location, it is believed that it happened in the north-eastern region near Kilju, the site of North Korea's first nuclear test.[6]
Nope,mas098,the North Koreans have a large standing army dug in just north of the DMZ.this army is equipped for war and well trained.The North Koreans dug the No 3 tunnel which I have visited,it was discovered by accident. The tunnel is large enough to move large numbers of troops quickly.The south end of the tunnel was only about 50 KM from the capital.The NK army will not IMO use nukes because they want South Korean Farmland to feed their people.If war comes IMO it will not be nuke it will be suprise and kill as many South Korean troops,And the 20,000 American troops, as quickly as they can then set up a government and move as many people from north to south as they can.The only way IMO the NK army will use nukes IMO is if they are being pushed out of South Korea. The worlds only hope IMO is to contain, keep thing as they are now and wait for the NK government to fall apart because the people push the government out. Other wise it will be nuke this nuke that until both countries are green glass.
We must have some crack intel agencies. They can spy on their own citizens non-stop, come up with or stand silent when false WMD Intel gets us into a needless war, but cant figure out who the lady is in the public photos of the North Korean Leader..
@Shawn & @ Proudtobeavet,
I would remind both of you that when countries first start testing nuclear weapons --- Israel, North Korean, India, Pakistan, Iran --- they don't waste prescious fissile material on a proof-of-concept bomb. Any reasonably bright high school student can make a bomb of the Hiroshima or Nagisaki types that will work. But the "implosion" type of bomb is more efficient, taking less fissile material and producing a greater yield. The problem with the implosion type is getting all the explosive charges (usually 16-64 separate charges) to go off precisely simultaneously (within about 5 nanoseconds.) So most early "nuclear tests", and most probably those of North Korea don't involve any fissile material, but are just tests of the explosives and the timing and effectiveness of the blast. Iran has also conducted these tests. They are a little easier to detect in North Korea which is not particularly seismically active. In Iran it is tougher because they have small earthquakes almost daily.
@Chris-749391, your longest comment made a lot of sense but if I may add something here, it could also be within the realm of possibility that Kim Jung Un might pull off a Gorbachev and actually COULD make North Korea fall and then we could see Korea go the way of Germany and nations like China, Cuba, Myanmar, and Vietnam going that way next. I am only saying that it is possible, not that it will actually happen outright, but one can hope, right?
All the speculation about this 'mystery woman'- she's probably being used for propoganda purposes in a forced/arranged marriage to give off the false impression that N Korea is changing for the better.
Profreedom
Wow, either you work for the CIA or you should! Your ability to intuitively detect facts is needed there.
tell you what freedom, Kim Ill fat ass's nights are looking a lot better!
US is no better. We are already falling behind and we'll end up worse than Korea if we continue to think it's business as usual.
I agree. Hasn't the media learned anything from the glamorization of Asma al-Assad? The husbands still a repressive dictator who believes that possessing nuclear weapons is more important than feeding his starving citizens.
Excellent Horse-like Lady?
In Communist nations (or Communist-themed nations, as NK is only Communist on paper), high value is placed on homage to working class, and hard workers are fetishized the way professional athletes and entertainers are in the West.
Interesting info, Alan. Thank you for the added knowledge!
No Alan, it's a song about Sara Jessica Parker.
....hey ohhh!!
The thing about "horse-faced" is a cultural thing seen mostly in Japan, older generations in Korea, and in parts of southern China. The traditional "beautiful" face in pre-1890's Geishas was a long face with a very long jaw. Look at old pics of Geishas to see what they consider beautiful (Post 1890's geishas are entertainer/prostitutes and all the old traditions were tossed out.)
If you look at the pics on this site: http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/06/japanese-woodblock-prints.html you will see that the old beautiful geishas were very "horse-faced." It is still a great compliment to tell a Japanese woman that she looks like a horse, even if the style is for much more western-style faces. The compliment may be a little dated, but the sentiment is still understood today.
REALLY?
So, do tell... why is NK only a communist nation 'on paper'? There is no private property or industry, the government controls the means of production, and all citizens are 'workers' and treated equally. How is this not communism?
And what do you think communism actually is?
Yes, she will always be known as a VERY excellent horse-like lady!
Communism doesn't have the "dear leader" feeding the military.
Actually, Alan's spot on - check out the ode to the hard working girl, currently burning up the NK airways:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5tkXgw2OMY
Looks like another blow to OBAMUNISM
What?
Looks like another FOXtard from FOX.
Looks like you're spamming MSNBC...
Kim Jong Un - This is your chance.
If you must be a dictator, at least be a benevolent one.
The enigma of the North Koreans has not changed since the cease fire. It's a brutal regime and it will take a major upheaval many lives lost to change it
*citation needed
Hey Alan - If NK is so great, why don't you move there?
TJP77... what are you reading that makes you believe that I consider North Korea to be "so great"? I used two words, neither of which gave any indication as to my opinions on the country.
I admit it! I am the Mystery Woman.
No you're not. Ann Romney is.
"Relieved of his post.." boy, does that sound painful!
Anyway, I hope maybe she'll drag that regime into the 21st century. We'll keep a good thought.
Wow, Korea changing for the better while we got change for the worse. Just curious, does anyone that is not on government payroll feel better off than they did 4 years ago?
I do. Much better than I did about 10 years ago.
Idaho-Steven - Not a question to ask on these vines, people will answer you the opposite of what you think whether it's what they REALLY believe or not, just to be obnoxious. Nice try though.
Stylish woman?
In what regard? As in oh, she's not wearing army uniform fatigues and boots?
But seriously, I hope the changes are the beginning of a turn away from the cold dark north that has tortured it's citizenry for so long.
I remember the area across from the border of RNK but in Chinese territory from 30 years ago. it was horrible, cold, starving, bleak and depressing. You can't build a country like that and expect things to go well.
Nobody knows who she is, but from a distance, she looks smokin'. Maybe she can temper N Korea and calm wonderboy down.
You go now, dress like twinkie so I get chubby later!
What a fat $hit! Cripes.... talk about taking one for the team her going with rolly polly fat ass. If he cut his meals in half the country wouldn' be starving.
She's hot. We need MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!!
She is one excellent horse-like lady.
Change would be good but I won't get my hopes up a women could change that family.
First reform Korea... then the Republican Taliban!
Hair gel, high heels and hamburgers may seem like nothing to us but in N. Korea is means much much more. At least there is some semblance of bringing them out of last century and into the modern world, hopefully civil rights will come along with it.
Kim Jong Un is tapping that? You'd think with his pull, he could get some hotter tail. You're the leader of a brutal regime, for goodness sake, set the bar higher for yourself. Bill Clinton needs to counsel this goon. He is giving brutal dictators all over the world a bad name.
We shall see
Ok, so we know the mystery is not Laura Ling. So who can it be? lol
North Korea has to understand that Americans aren't their enemy. Change isn't their enemy either. True there are a lot undesirable traits Americans exhibit, but some of us are really good people. North Korea shouldn't fear US changing their ways. Take in the best of what would make a country great and make it illegal for everything else. It's that simple.
Pyongyang sits on the border and is the most modern thing in NK. It is a Smoke Screen, they want the people of SK to think all of NK is like that. Well, it's not and SK knows this also. There are some things that are needed to be known before anyone can make any decission about anythng in NK and you would still be wrong. If you think Kim may be setting his country up to lower the Communist Wall your probably wrong. NK desire is to control the whole Pennisula.
@6dogs,
Pyongyang sits about 50 miles from the Gulf of Korea (Yellow Sea) about halfway up the western coast. It is nowhere near the border. Everyone on South Korea knows that Pyongyand doesn't even have full-time electricity and that basically Pyongyang is a ghost town. You can look for yourself on Google Earth. There are almost NO vehicles to be seen in Pyongyang.
North Korea has no interest in controlling the whole peninsula. That is like saying East Germany was looking to control Germany or Europe before the wall came down. Just like East Germany, North Korea is just tryiong to control its military and ite people from day to day. And just like with East Germany the situation will stay pretty much a stalemate unless the North Korean economy collapses even more completely (if such a thing is possible) or until a miscalculation is made by one side or the other.
Women can now wear blue jeans?.......wow....this country is moving into the "advanced" cultures!!!
It's most likely his sister who also happens to be his wife. She looks well fed. Must be nice to look so good in a country where more than half the people are starving.
They actually have a song titled "Excellent Horse-Like Lady?" Really?
I tried to explain it in #3.4
Jong-un is cleaning house. From the top to the bottom. It's going to take some time to turn that ship around. Juche!
This is what passes for news on MSNBS?
Heres news: North Korea drafts peace plan with South Korea. FYI, there was never a peace treaty signed between the two countries.