North Korea Saturday sent the highest-ranking delegation ever to the South Korea since President Park Geun-hye took office, a move that may indicate Pyongyang's desire to improve frosty bilateral relationships with Seoul.
The surprise visit was been ostensibly arranged so the delegation can meet North Korean athletes taking part in the Asian Games in Incheon and attend the closing ceremony, the official Asian Game site reported.
But the sending of officials who are viewed as close confidantes of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has raised speculation that the trip may be a wish to send a reconciliatory message to Seoul. Pyongyang made the request to send the delegation to the South Friday.
Hwang Pyong-so, Choe Ryong-hae and Kim Yang-gon arrived at Incheon International Airport in the morning and engaged in talks with South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae and Seoul's national security adviser, Kim Kwan-jin, in South Korea's second-largest port city west of Seoul.
Hwang who holds the rank of vice marshal in the Korean People's Army was recently made the director of the military's General Political Bureau, the top military post. He is widely viewed as the No. 2 man in the communist country after leader Kim Jong-un. He landed at Incheon International Airport in full military dress uniform.
Kim Yang-gon is the long-standing head of the United Front Department of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), tasked with overseeing the activities of sleeper agents operating in South Korea, while Choe, who is a secretary of the WPK, and head of the Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Committee is said to still have influence despite stepping down from his post of vice chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission.
The visit comes at a time when inter-Korean relations remain icy, while the absence of the North Korean leader from the public spotlight for several weeks, has stirred unsubstantiated rumors that he may be seriously ill or even a coup d'etat by disgruntled military officers has taken place in the isolationist country.
