Kim Song-hye | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Head of the Secretary Bureau of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 July 1965 South Pyongan Province, North Korea |
| Political party | Workers' Party of Korea |
| Alma mater | Kim Il Sung University |
| Korean name | |
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 김성혜 |
| Revised Romanization | Gim Seonghye |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kim Sŏnghye |
Kim Song-hye (Korean: 김성혜,[1] born 17 July 1965) is a North Korean politician. As the head of the Secretarial Bureau of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRK), she has taken part in numerous negotiations between North and South Korea. She has participated in talks at the 2000 inter-Korean summit, the 15th and 16th North–South Ministerial Talks in 2005, the 2007 inter-Korean summit, and most notably the inter-Korean working level talks of 2013 where she headed the North Korean delegation.
Kim has hosted many South Korean dignitaries visiting the North, including the future President of South Korea Park Geun-hye in 2002, the former First Lady of South Korea Lee Hee-ho in 2011, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in 2012.
It is highly unusual for a woman to be tasked with an important area of foreign policy in North Korea. Consequentially, Kim has been called the "female hard worker for South Korean affairs". Her feminine clothing has stood out in the otherwise largely male North Korean delegations and attracted media attention. Kim's prominent role as a negotiator has been explained as a gesture of friendliness from the North Korean government as well as a way to match the presidency of Park Geun-hye, South Korea's first female president.