Much attention has been on Kim Jong Un at his historic summit Tuesday with President Donald Trump. The young leader was also accompanied by a group of trusted and loyal lieutenants to Singapore with at least four high-powered women including his sister.
Kim's entourage includes Kim Jong Chol, 72, who is the North Korean leaders most trusted policy advisor and his "right-hand man" since the beginning of a peace offensive with the US and South Korea in January.
He accompanied the young leader at all four of his recent summits, twice with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and twice with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Recently, Kim Jong Un sent him to the United States to hand-deliver a letter to Trump, making him North Korea’s most senior official to visit its wartime foe in 18 years.
Kim's younger sister Kim Yo Jung also accompanied the leader. She is the Workers’ Party official responsible for propaganda affairs. Many outside experts believe she has already become the No. 2 official in a country that has been ruled by the Kim family for seven decades. She acts as her older brother’s assistant at times, having hand-delivered a letter from him to South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
She reportedly traveled to Singapore separately from her brother amid media speculation that the North’s top two officials intentionally take different planes in case of an accident.
Kim's vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui, who was also present at the meeting, is the highest-level female diplomat in North Korea. She previously worked as an English-language interpreter for a North Korean delegation attending now-stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.
She has reportedly acted as a lead negotiator in advance meetings with the American team ahead of the summit, possibly because of her experience as a nuclear negotiator in the past.
Last month, her threat to scuttle the summit and description of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence as a “political dummy” prompted Trump to pull out of his meeting with Kim, although he quickly reversed his decision.
Also present at the historic summit was Ri Su Yong, 78, is the top Workers’ Party official for international affairs. The former foreign minister was North Korea’s ambassador to Switzerland when Kim Jong Un studied there as a teenager.
Kim also had Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, 61, by his side. He is a career diplomat who served as the chief North Korean delegate to the six-party nuclear talks.
Hyon Song Wol also accompanied the leader at the Singapore summit. He is head of North Korea’s hugely popular Moranbong girl band, whose members were hand-picked by Kim Jong Un. She also led a large North Korean art troupe sent to South Korea during the February Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Her earlier trip to South Korea in January triggered a media frenzy.
Also present today was Kim Sung Hae who is a departmental director at North Korea’s United Front Department, the Workers’ Party organization that handles inter-Korean relations. She also attended Monday’s meeting at the Ritz-Carlton hotel.
No Kwang Chol, who accompanied the leader, is North Korea’s minister of the People’s Armed Forces. His appointment to one of the top military jobs was officially confirmed by a state media dispatch on Monday that included him in a list of officials traveling with Kim.