Kim Jong Un's mystery woman said to be married singer

Hair trimmed in a neat bob, large eyes, a warm, self-confident smile, got up in a natty dark suit with green piping, the glamorous young woman has taken centre stage in recent days alongside North Korea's young supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.

The typically careful presentation of the pair suggested strongly that they were husband and wife; that here was North Korea's first lady, or at least that she is well on her way to being so.

But though happy to splash the photos around, official sources gave no clue to her identity.

South Korean intelligence sources claim that she is Hyon Song Wol, a locally famous pop singer who, fronting the Bochonbo Electronic Music Band, had a string of local hits in the early 2000s.

The most popular was called Excellent Horse-like Lady, and eulogised the Stakhanovite achievements of a beautiful woman worker in a textile factory. In the video of the song, Hyon played the heroine, dashing around a sparkling factory with a beatific smile, distributing bobbins and collecting swatches of cloth at top speed.

It is claimed that Kim Jong Un and Hyon Song Wol were lovers in adolescence but that Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, who died at the end of last year, disapproved of the relationship and forced his son to break it off.

Hyon reportedly married an army officer and had a child with him. But now that the elder Kim is dead, it is suggested that his son has gone back to his old flame.

The mystery woman, who earlier had accompanied Kim on a visit to the tomb of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, founder of the dynasty, bears a strong resemblance to the pop singer. But there are a rash of rival explanations.

Earlier reports claimed that she was Kim's younger sister Kim Yeo Jong, and was being put through her public paces. But according to Paik Haksoon of the Sejong Institute, a Seoul think-tank, this is rot: "She doesn't have the attitude of a younger sister, who in Korean culture would have to stay in the shadow of her elder brother."

But the expert doubted whether the woman was Hyon Song Wol: he questioned whether Kim would be permitted to flaunt his secret romantic attachments while still consolidating his grip on the nation.

And if this really is Hyon Song Wol, whatever happened to her husband and son?

- Independent