North Korean first lady appears in public for first time in 4 months
Seoul, Sep 10 (EFE).- North Korean first lady Ri Sol-ju appeared in public for the first time in four months after visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang with her husband, leader Kim Jong-un, on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the country’s founding.
The last time Ri participated in a public event was in May, during a concert in the North Korean capital.
She accompanied Kim on Thursday to visit Kumsusan, where the embalmed remains of Kim Jong-il, the leader’s father, and Kim Il-sung, Kim’s grandfather and founder of the country, rest.
“In the halls where the former presidents rest, the general secretary and his wife extended the best wishes of immortality to the great leaders who built the genuine people’s republic,” a text by state agency KCNA read.
The leader’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, also attended the event in Kumsusan, although she stood in the fifth row of the retinue that paid tribute to the first two leaders of the Kim dynasty.
Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol-ju were escorted in the front row by the other four members who, together with the supreme leader, form the presidium of the North Korean single party politburo.
North Korea celebrated Thursday its Republic Foundation Day and opened the day with a military parade at dawn.
Unlike other occasions, the regime reduced the scale of the event and did not display ballistic missiles.
Kim Jong-un did not deliver any speech, so the event did not give clues about the possible willingness of the regime to dialogue.
Washington has reached out to Pyongyang, whom it has offered to meet “wherever and whenever” to try to reactivate denuclearization negotiations, stalled since the failed 2019 Hanoi summit. EFE
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