Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.

The world’s spotlight has been upon South Korea’s Winter Olympics but the spectacle hasn’t been the athletes from around the world competing for gold, silver or bronze. That’s a sideshow compared to when North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong walked into the main sports arena and sat down right behind Vice President Mike Pence for the opening ceremonies.

Jong is the pretty, 30-year-old sister of North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un. She is the first member of North Korea’s ruling family to step foot in South Korea ever since her grandfather – Kim II Sung — took over North Korea back in the early 1950s.

All of a sudden media-frenzy broke out as cameras and eyes were on this attractive, slender woman who appeared sincere and engaged in diplomacy for a better understanding of her country. She was seen in talks with South Korea President Moon and according to news reports she invited Moon to North Korea for talks with her brother. Stop right there! Introducing this woman onto the world stage is nothing more than propaganda gone wild and the media fell for her political seduction.

What the mainstream media is not telling you is that Jong is Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Worker’s Party of Korea and she has a close relationship with her brother — the dictator – who appointed his sister to this position in 2015, according to Wikipedia. That should scare the hell out of mainstream media, but no.

On top of Jong’s appearance the media is also obsessed with showing North Korea’s 200-plus cheerleading squad of young smiling teenage girls dressed in matching communist red outfits who appear happy and healthy.

There’s no going back in time to erase the endless-murderous-rogue North Korean regime. Since no presidents before Trump and no other countries tried to stop them, they are now threatening the entire region with nuclear weapons. No other country on Earth represents this level of threat to peace. Interior North Korea is reported to be in dire condition with citizens starving, nothing like what is portrayed in their military and citizen parades seen frequently on the news. Sanctions upon sanctions have been levied against North Korea in an effort to isolate and starve the country into submission or revolt against the current regime resulting in their removal.

Ever since President Donald Trump was elected he has singled out North Korea demanding they abandon their nuclear weapons program. Tensions are rising between North Korea, the USA and the rest of the world except with China and Russia that apparently are still supporting the North Korean regime in defiance of President Trump and the United Nations.

Vice President Pence was right not to even acknowledge Jong’s presence at the Olympics. He could have turned around, politely shook her gentle hand and smiled, but he didn’t and good for him.

The only way to explain mainstream media’s obsession with Jong is that President Trump is against North Korea so the media is promoting the diplomacy of North Korea/South Korea reunification talks. That won’t happen until the current North Korean government is history.

Here’s a sampling of mainstream media’s fascination with Jong and the NoKo cheerleaders complied by Breitbart News:

“North Korea is winning the Olympics – and it’s not because of sports” – CNN.
“Kim Jong Un’s sister is stealing the show at the Winter Olympics” – CNN.
“North Korea judged winner of diplomatic gold at Olympics” – Reuters.
“Without a word, only flashing smiles, Kim Jong Un’s sister outflanked Vice President Mike Pence in diplomacy” – New York Times.
“North Korea’s 200-plus cheerleaders steal spotlight at 2018 Winter Olympics with matching outfits, synchronized chants” – ABC News.
“Kim Yo Jong, the ‘Ivanka Trump of North Korea,’ enthralls people in the South” – Washington Post.
“North Korea’s Cheerleaders are the Most Mesmerizing Part of the Winter Olympics” – Esquire.
“The North Korea cheer squad’s presence was impossible for even the skaters to ignore” – Wall Street Journal.

It will take a lot more than a pretty face in charge of ‘propaganda’ and a bunch of giggling cheerleaders to change the ugly face of North Korea. Wouldn’t it be something if the cheerleaders and the North Korean athletes defected to South Korea during the Olympics? Of course that won’t happen because if they did their families would suffer detention in a concentration camp or death.

Say goodbye Kim Yo Jong.

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.