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Agencies

Members of the North Korean cheerleading squad that charmed Winter Olympics viewers are being forced into sex slavery by the country’s top politicians, a defector from the country has said.
“North Korea’s art troupe came here and performed with dances and songs, and it might seem like a fancy show on the outside,” Lee So-yeon, who was a musician in the North Korean military until she fled in 2008, told Bloomberg.
“But not only do they have to be in charge of promoting Kim Jong-un’s propaganda, they also have to go to parties and provide sexual services.”

Lee said that the parties are held “every day” by members of the Central Politburo, and “even if they don’t want this, they have to serve with their bodies, like a human rights infringement.
“The women there, when they attend, they have to undress. They’re asked to undress, like objects. That’s the physical pain they have to go through.”
Trump and Kim impersonators thrown out of Winter Olympics
It is not clear where the parties are held, and it appears that she is talking more about the cheerleaders’ lives back in North Korea, rather than at the Olympics. 
It’s also unclear how Lee, who has written books about her time in the North Korean army and is now an anti-North Korea campaigner, knows about the treatment of the cheerleaders.
‘Evil, murderous, tyrannical’: Pence slams Kim Jong-un’s sister
Bloomberg also spoke to Kim Hyung-soo, 54, who defected to South Korea with his son - a North Korean national league skier - in 2009.
Kim called all of the coaches and athletes “slaves” of Kim Jong-un, though he did not make claims of sexual abuse.

“The cheerleaders, too,” he said. “They select people who are unlikely to defect, and people with loyal backgrounds. This factor is crucial from a very early stage.”
China tells US to get tough over theft of terracotta warrior’s thumb
Last month, An Chan-il, a defector researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, said the cheerleaders are cherry-picked by the regime based on tough criteria.
“They must be over 163 centimetres tall and come from good families,” An said.
“Those who play an instrument are from a band and others are mostly students at the elite Kim Il-sung University.”
Additional reporting by James Wilkinson


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Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018

North Korea’s Winter Olympics cheerleaders are being ‘forced into sexual slavery’

A North Korean defector has claimed that the cheerleaders are being forced into sexual slavery. Photo: Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Ice Hockey Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Men Preliminary Round Match – Czech Republic v South Korea - Gangneung Hockey Centre, Gangneung, South Korea February 15, 2018 - North Korean cheerleaders attend the Czech Republic Vs. South Korea game. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: Ice Hockey Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics Women Preliminary Round Match - Switzerland v Korea - Kwandong Hockey Centre, Gangneung, South Korea February 10, 2018 - North Korea's cheer squad hold masks. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

North Korean cheerleaders: ‘army of beauties’ set to invade South for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang

The cheerleaders are set for their fourth appearance in the South after Pyongyang agreed this week to send a delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics

A cheerleader from North Korea taking part in the charm offensive that has won South Korean hearts at the Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea. 07 October 2002

This picture taken in 2005 shows a woman (R) believed to be North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's current wife Ri Sol-Ju among a group who attended the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon. With their good looks and sharp moves, North Korea's female cheerleaders are a marked contrast to the regime's menacing nuclear ambitions. Dubbed the "army of beauties" in South Korea, the young North Korean women -- mostly in their late teens or early 20s -- have attracted huge publicity whenever they have been sent to the South. / AFP PHOTO / Dong-A Ilbo / - / South Korea OUT / TO GO WITH AFP STORY OLY-2018-CHEERLEADERS, FOCUS BY Hwang Sunghee

College students take a selfie with cutouts of North Korean cheerleaders during a rally to welcome the outcome of a meeting between South and North Korea, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. South Korea's president said Wednesday he's open to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if certain conditions are met, as he vowed to push for more talks and cooperation with the North to try to resolve the nuclear standoff. The letters read: "We welcome the attendance of North Korea at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korean cheerleaders wave during the North Korea against Germany women's football match in Gimcheon Stadium in 2003. File photo: AFP