The focus in the Korean Peninsula on the eve of the Winter Olympics has been riveted to Kim Yo-jong, younger sister of the belligerent North Korean President, Kim Jong-un. As her brother’s envoy, she has scripted a chapter in history more than 60 years after the last member of the Kim family had set foot in Seoul, Yo Jong’s grandfather Kim Il Sung ~ the North’s founder ~ after his forces invaded in 1950 and the capital fell.

Three years later the conflict ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula divided by the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, and the two sides technically in a state of war. To use the language of the metaphor, Yo-jong has in a way broken the barrier ~ ignoring the volley and thunder of the ballistic missile.

On closer reflection, the organisers of the Games could not have hoped for a happier prologue, of a kind that must transcend the pomp and pageantry on 18 February. Arguably, she has been sent to Seoul to display a softer side of the North Korean regime, generally condemned as a “pariah state” for perpetrating human rights violations, firing missiles with the potential to target the US, and even threatening a nuclear war. Yo-jong’s invitation to the South Korean President to visit Pyonyang can be rated as the high watermark of inter-Korean diplomacy.

Thus far, her strategy would appear to have worked, at any rate as a public relations exercise. To the extent that the horrors carried out by her brother, father and grandfather north of the border have been ignored by the South’s media’s coverage. It is pretty obvious that the North is engaged in a PR overdrive that has been crafted with suitable diplomatic finesse.

There is little doubt that Yo-jong is stealing the show at the Winter Olympics; abjuring the missile for now, North Korea has conveyed the message to the South and the world that it is engaged in a charm offensive. Indeed, the diplomatic charm is unmistakable. Hence the parallel between Yo-jong and Ivanka Trump, who will attend the closing ceremony of the Olympics.

Will Yo-jong’s strategic diplomacy be enduring? Is the silence of the North Korean missile purely temporary? Is she a symbol of hope or is her visit a mere political stunt? Answers to such queries may not be forthcoming quite yet.

Nonetheless, she has penned a pregnant statement in a guest book at the Blue House ~ Seoul’s presidential palace ~ after meeting the South Korean President, Moon Jae-in ~ “I hope Pyongyang and Seoul get closer in our people’s hearts and bring unification and prosperity in the near future”. The world must keep its fingers crossed though there is yet no indication that President Kim Jong-un’s sister is playing the role of an honest broker.