A North Korean delegation led by the powerful female head of a national orchestra moved to Seoul on Monday morning from the eastern city of Gangneung, on the second day of their two-day visit to inspect candidate venues for its planned art performances during next month's PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
On Sunday, the seven-member team, led by Hyon Song-wol, the head of the Samjiyon Orchestra, visited two candidate auditoriums in Gangneung, a sub-host city of the games, 260 kilometers east of the capital.
They are scheduled to inspect a few more concert halls in central Seoul on Monday and will cross the inter-Korean land border to go back to North Korea.
North Korea agreed in recent working-level talks with the South to send a 140-member art troupe to hold two concerts, in Seoul and Gangneung.
The delegation is expected to report the results of their inspection to the North Korean government, which will make the final decision on when and where its proposed art performances will be staged.
A crowd of people gathered in front of the hotel in Gangneung as the delegates were having breakfast on Monday morning.
Hyon responded with only a subtle smile as journalists approached her and asked about her breakfast as the North Korean delegation boarded a train heading to Seoul earlier in the morning.
The window blind of Hyon's train seat was drawn as the train departed for Seoul. The police barred access to Hyon's train compartment. (Yonhap)
