Seol Hoon: "Chairman Kim Jong-un's Visit to Seoul Within This Year Is Very Likely"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] 설훈 (Seol Hoon), a five-term senior member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated that the possibility of Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, visiting Seoul within this year is "very high."

On the 11th, Seol appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and revealed this, saying, "There are various reasons, but this will be Kim Jong-un's first time stepping onto the world stage," adding, "Since it will be his first time coming to a free country, I think he will probably choose Seoul for his debut. And I believe he will also visit the United States and the United Nations."

He evaluated Kim Jong-un as "very frank, straightforward, and bold," mentioning, "He even apologized during the recent fishing guidance ship death incident. I think that was probably the first apology since the establishment of the North Korean government."

Considering this tendency, he believes there is a high possibility that Kim will make a decisive move toward practical relationship improvement. Seol said, "The reason previous (North Korean) leaders could not come down is because there would be demonstrations and such situations on our side. That seems to be a significant burden," adding, "However, Kim Jong-un probably knew that would happen anyway, so I think he will cross over very boldly."

In a phone interview with Yonhap News, Seol pointed to this summer as the expected time for the visit, saying, "It will happen once COVID-19 calms down and the Biden administration in the U.S. settles in."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.