Credit: Reuters/KCNA
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un holds up his ballot during the fifth session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang in this April 13, 2012 file photo released by the North's KCNA on April 14, 2012.
Heading the delegation will be Hwang Pyong So and Choe Ryong Hae, who are senior aides to North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un, South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman told a news briefing.
The announcement of the visit comes as a surprise because Pyongyang has been issuing invectives toward the South and President Park Geun-hye, criticising her calls for Pyongyang to end its arms programme and improve human rights conditions.
The two Koreas are technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce and without a peace treaty. Armed clashes in recent years have killed soldiers on both sides, and in 2010 civilians in the South were killed when the North bombed an island.
Hwang is the head of the North Korean army's General Political Department, a powerful apparatus loyal to the secretive country's leader and a key post overseeing the 1.2-million-member military.
Kim has been absent from public view since Sept. 3, fuelling speculation that he may be in bad health.
(Reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park; Editing by Ken Wills)
Entities 0 Name: Pyongyang Count: 3 1 Name: General Political Department Count: 1 2 Name: Kim Jong-Un Count: 1 3 Name: Jack Kim Count: 1 4 Name: Choe Ryong Hae Count: 1 5 Name: Mansudae Assembly Hall Count: 1 6 Name: North Korea Count: 1 7 Name: Supreme People 's Assembly of North Korea Count: 1 8 Name: North Korean Count: 1 9 Name: South Korea Count: 1 10 Name: Kim Count: 1 11 Name: Ken Wills Count: 1 12 Name: Unification Ministry Count: 1 13 Name: Hwang Pyong Count: 1 14 Name: Hwang Count: 1 15 Name: KCNA Count: 1 16 Name: South Count: 1 17 Name: Kim Jong Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1vBRFS8 Title: Former Top Official Says Kim Jong-un Is No Longer in Control of North Korea | VICE News Description: An elite group of exiles from North Korea gathered in September in the Netherlands to discuss the state of the regime they used to serve. The conference included top diplomats, an ex-senior official of the Ministry of Security, and a high-ranking military officer, but the keynote address was given by Jang Jin-sung, formerly a key member of Kim Jong-il's propaganda machine.
