Hyon Song-wol

Hyon Song-wol (; born 1977 ) is a North Korean singer, band leader, and politician. She is the leader of the Moranbong Band and of the Samjiyon Orchestra. She was formerly a featured vocalist for the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble in the early 2000s, a pop group which found fame in North Korea in the late 1980s and 1990s. She has been a member in the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea since 2017.

Early life Hyon Song-wol was allegedly born on 17 September 1977, in an ordinary household in Pyongyang. Her musical talents caught attention in her school years, which provided her the opportunity to attend Kum Song School and Pyongyang Kim Won Gyun University of Music and Dance, which are known to be the training grounds for North Korean entertainers.

Band and orchestra director From 2012 to 2018, Hyon acted as the leader of the Moranbong Band girl group, which was reported as the most popular music act in the country during its tenure. The selection of Hyon in this role as a relatively young woman fit within the intentions of the early Kim Jong Un era, where cultural initiatives like Moranbong were set up to please important social strata like Pyongyang elites, military and technical professionals, and in particular, women.

In December 2015, Hyon travelled to Beijing to perform with the Moranbong Band in a series of private concerts, which were cancelled due to disputes between the organising countries.

From 2018 onwards, Hyon acted as the director of the Samjiyon Orchestra.

In January 2018, she attended as a representative of the North Korean side at the inter-Korean working-level talks held at the Panmunjom Unification Pavilion regarding the dispatch of an art troupe for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. In February, Hyon returned with the orchestra for a series of concerts for the games, in which she sung "Peaktu and Hala are My Motherland" with the orchestra.

Again in April 2019, she was promoted to a member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea at the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee.

Hyon's visibility in North Korean politics increased again in 2020, when she made multiple appearances, including her inspection of typhoon-ravaged areas with Kim Jong Un, in the country, acting in a position of Technical Secretary to Kim.

She was re-elected to the Central Committee at the 8th Congress of the WPK in January 2021.

Personal life Hyon has a teenage daughter who has accompanied her to various events in 2025 to 2026.

Rumors and controversies

Marriage and rumors of involvement with Kim Jong Un 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.

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". However, on 25 July 2012, North Korean media announced that the woman was Ri Sol-ju.

On 16 November 2023, The Korea Times published an article in which Choe Su-yong, a former official at the National Intelligence Service (NIS), alleges that Hyon is the mother of Kim Jong Un's eldest child. Choe also alleges that this child is a son known as Il-bong.

Execution rumor On 29 August 2013, South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo reported that Hyon had been executed by firing squad on the orders of Kim Jong Un, along with 11 other performers, including violinist Mun Kyong-jin, both of whom had allegedly made illegal pornographic videos. According to a source quoted by the newspaper, "They were executed with machine guns while the key members of the Unhasu Orchestra, the Wangjaesan Light Music Band and the Moranbong Band as well as the families of the victims looked on".

Pyongyang's state news agency KCNA denied claims that the singer was executed, and a Japanese news magazine reported that she was seen subsequently. On 16 May 2014, Hyon appeared on North Korean television participating in the National Convention of Artists. However, at the time, some theorized that the government may have used an older video to make it seem as though she were still alive.