Winter Olympics: Kim Jong-Un impersonator wows North Korean cheerleaders

A Kim Jong Un impersonator, calling himself only Howard from Australia, holds a unification flag at the Winter Olympics. Photo / AP

A group of North Korean cheerleaders have been briefly wowed by the apparent, sudden arrival of their leader, Kim Jong-Un, at a Winter Olympics ice hockey game.

Some cheerleaders giggled then immediately averted their gaze as the impersonator, who later only identified himself as Howard, smiled and waved to crowds who came to watch a unified Korean team play Japan at the PyeongChang Games.

"They are playing a good game, they scored one goal. As a president, it's all I can ask for," Howard said shortly after plain-clothed officials from South Korea's National Counter-terrorism Centre moved him away from the cheerleaders, who he said had been doing a very good job.

"I mean I trained them by myself so, of course, they're the best in the world." Howard had caused a commotion during last Friday's opening ceremony when he and a person dressed as US President Donald Trump were swiftly shown out of the stadium by security staff.

He said he was briefly detained inside a police office during Wednesday's match then "politely asked" to leave.

"My face is too political", the dejected impersonator said as he walked slowly out of the ice hockey stadium.

"I was born with this face, I've got to live with it." In North Korea, anyone impersonating of a member of the ruling Kim family would be considered blasphemous. Images of the North Korean leadership are tightly choreographed and controlled by the reclusive nation's state propagandists.

Still, Howard's entrance was so spectacular that the North Korean cheerleaders struggled to stifle a quick laugh in between chants of "We are one!" and "Unify the motherland!" "It shows you we're human after all," Howard said of the cheerleaders. "Doesn't matter if they're South or North Koreans, a sense of humour and a bit of political satire is always needed." Japan won the match 4-1 while Randi Heesoo Griffin brought the house down in scoring the united Korean team's first-ever goal.

"I'm definitely not a hero," said Griffin, one of half a dozen North American players with Korean heritage in the team. "It was a pretty crappy goal that took a couple bounces and went into the net."

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- AAP