Moranbong band leader was Kim Jong Il’s mistress, source says

SEOUL, Dec. 24 (UPI) — The leader of North Korea’s all-female Moranbong Band was the last mistress of former leader Kim Jong Il, and not current leader Kim Jong Un’s ex-girlfriend.

Hyon Song Wol, who may have been behind the Moranbong Band’s decision to abruptly leave Beijing on Dec. 12, was the older Kim’s paramour, a source in North Korea told South Korean outlet Daily NK Thursday.

The musician came to the attention of Kim Jong Il in 2005, when she sang “Maiden on a Thoroughbred Horse,” a North Korean pop song she performed with the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, a band known for its folk and revolutionary songs.

Hyon was “the last paramour of Kim Jong Il,” the source in South Hamgyong Province told South Korea press, adding rumors that Hyon was Kim Jong Un’s first girlfriend were “baseless.”

Kim Jong Il became so involved with Hyon, starting in the mid-2000s, that he even came under criticism from party cadres, the source said.

In 2008, during celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the founding of North Korea, Kim had instructed the ensemble to include the song Hyon had sung in 2005, spreading rumors of gift-giving and favoritism, the source said. Senior officials at the time criticized Kim for placing a “mundane singer” in the spotlight and had said their leader had “gone too far.”

“A woman who is barely an artist was appointed leader of the ensemble, and it was because of her deep ties to [Kim Jong Il],” the source said.

During Kim’s final years, Hyon’s Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble also became the center of Pyongyang’s Mansudae Art Theater, and a rival group, the Mansudae Art Troupe, was expelled to the less extolled East Pyongyang Grand Theater.

Mansudae is the troupe affiliated with Ko Yong Hui, mother of Kim Jong Un.

On Christmas Eve, North Korea paid tribute to another Kim, Yonhap reported.

Kim Jong Suk, the first wife of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Un’s grandmother, was remembered on her birth anniversary.