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Revision as of 21:26, 26 July 2012 by Graeme Bartlett (talk | contribs) (added Category:Korean singers using HotCat)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Hyon Song-wol (Korean: 현송월; Hancha: 玄松月) is a North-Korean pop singer who was formerly the vocalist for the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, a pop group which became well known in North Korea in the early 2000s. Her better-known songs include the numbers "Footsteps of Soldiers", "I Love Pyongyang", "She is a Discharged Soldier" and "We are Troops of the Party". Her biggest hit to date has been the song "A Girl In The Saddle Of A Steed" (Often mistranslated as "Excellent Horse-Like Lady"), a 2005 song extolling the virtues of a Stakhanovite textile factory worker. The accompanying music video stars Hyon in the role of the Excellent Horse-Like Lady, "dashing around a sparkling factory with a beautific smile, distributing bobbins and collecting swatches of cloth at top speed." The lyrics include:
- Our factory comrades say in jest,
- Why, they tell me I am a virgin on a stallion,
- After a full day's work I still have energy left...
- They say I am a virgin on a stallion,
- Mounting a stallion my Dear Leader gave me.
- All my life I will live to uphold his name!
Hyon disappeared from public view in 2006 when, according to reports in the Japanese media, she married a North Korean army officer with whom she had a child. She is reported to have known Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, since they were both teenagers. South Korean government sources told the media that Hyon and Kim Jong-un had been romantically involved in the early 2000s after he returned to North Korea from his studies at a private school in Switzerland. His father reportedly disapproved of the relationship and the younger Kim and Hyon broke it off.
Following Kim Jong-il's death in December 2011, Kim Jong-un was thought to have resumed the relationship. According to South Korean intelligence sources, "rumors about the two having an affair have been circulating among Pyongyang’s top elite."
In March 2012, Hyon made her first public appearance in six years when she performed, while heavily pregnant, in an event in Pyongyang to mark International Women’s Day. Fresh interest in Hyon was kindled in July 2012 when she was mis-identified in footage taken by the North Korean state television station showing a dark-haired woman sitting next to Kim Jong-un at a musical performance. It was thought at first that she might have been a previously undisclosed wife of Kim or his younger sister, but South Korean intelligence officials identified her as Hyon. Some suggested that she may have been given the job of running the state art troupe. However, North Korean television announced that the lady was in fact Kim Jong-un's wife, Ri Sol-ju, and not Hyon.
See also
References
- ^ Popham, Peter (11 July 2012). "Is Kim Jong-un's mystery woman a long-lost love?". The Independent. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
- ^ "Is Kim Jong Un's Mystery Woman The 'Excellent Horse-Like Lady'?". NPR. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
- ^ Lee, Young-jong (9 July 2012). "Is Hyon the new first lady of NK?". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 12 July 2012.