N. Korean first lady presumed to have visited South in past

The newly-introduced North Korean first lady has presumably visited South Korea and previously participated in several inter-Korean exchange programs, an analysis of media reports showed Thursday.

North Korea disclosed young leader Kim Jong-un's marital status for the first time on Wednesday by confirming that the woman accompanying him at recent public events is his wife, Ri Sol-ju, without elaborating further.

It was highly unusual for the secretive regime to disclose its leader's private life.

While details about her identity and their marital life are still shrouded in secrecy, chances are high that Ri visited South Korea and met figures here several times in the past, according to an analysis Yonhap News Agency conducted on its data on inter-Korean events held since 2000.

A 17-year-old female student named Ri Sul-ju was involved in a North Korean delegation that visited here in September 2005 for the Asian track and field competition held in Incheon.

As part of the 124-member delegation including athletes for the five-day 16th Asian Athletics Championships, the student performed a duet with another member named Ryu Byeol-rim at an Incheon stadium during the event.

Sources here have speculated that first lady Ri used to be a member of an art troupe in the communist country.

The appearance of the student named Ri who visited Incheon bears resemblance to the first lady, though the Unification Ministry said they have yet to confirm the two are the same individual.

Prior to the Incheon event, an 11-year-old student also named Ri Sol-ju, wearing a blue uniform and red scarf, was also seen during a 2003 tree-planting event for friendship among the young generations of the two Koreas. The event, hosted by the Red Cross organizations in each country, was held in Kangwon Province of North Korea in March 2003. 

Her appearance, shown in several pictures, is also similar to the first lady.

In 2004, a North Korean student, also named Ri Sol-ju and resembling the first lady, participated in the inter-Korean teachers' dialogue held at the North's scenic resort of Mount Kumgang.

"Teachers from the South look vivid and handsome. I'd like to learn from them after achieving unification soon," the young student, introduced as a fifth grader at Changjeon Middle School, was quoted as saying by a South Korean reporter who covered the story at that time.

"My first impression of the girl was that she was very pretty,"

recalled Yoon Geun-young, a reporter of online new site Ohmynews.

"If it is confirmed that Ri visited South Korea and met figures here, it is positive, as she has at least experienced contact with the outside world," said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul.

"Her presumed openness could also have an effect on the leader's policymaking, at least in an indirect fashion," he added. (Yonhap News)