North Korean first lady Ri Sol-ju resurfaces in public sporting a 'wedding ring'

North Korea’s first lady has appeared in public for the first time this year as part of celebrations marking the birthday of the country’s founding leader Kim Il-sung, state media said today.

A grinning Ri Sol-ju, wearing what appeared to be a wedding ring on her left hand, was pictured clapping next to her smiling husband Kim Jong-un during a men’s football match at Kim Il-sung Stadium yesterday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The images of the couple at a podium flanked by top party officials were published in state media.

The match was being held as part of a lavish series of events celebrating the 103rd birthday of Kim Il-sung, the young leader’s grandfather, which falls tomorrow.

North Korea designates the “Day of the Sun” as a rare two-day national holiday, with art performances, exhibitions and sporting events, and pilgrimages to the late leader’s birthplace in Pyongyang.

A former member of the North’s Unhasu Orchestra, Ri was last seen in public in December last year, when she and her husband attended a ceremony to commemorate the third anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il.

Their marriage was only revealed in July 2012 when pictures emerged of a young woman accompanying Kim at official events in a break from the past, when the North’s first ladies were kept out of the limelight.