She's been feared dead on more than one occasion - but Kim Jong-un's on-off pop star girlfriend is alive and kicking.
Hyon Song Wol has been seen touring factories with the portly despot with rumours of her demise seemingly greatly exaggerated.
According to the Sunday Times they even watched a gymnastics performance together and is now said to be his 'right hand woman'.
Hyon is the lead singer of the Moranbong Band, “North Korea’s only girl group” - who is are known for their western-style outfits, North Korean propaganda and odes to Kim.
She is also a member of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea - but it hasn't always been plain-sailing for the power couple.
They met in the early 2000s and dated before Kim’s father and former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told him to end the relationship for unspecified reasons, Chosun Ilbo reported.
Hyon reportedly married a North Korean soldier while Kim married Ri Sol Ju. There were rumors Kim and Hyon continued to have an affair over the years.
The despot later hand-selected her in 2012 to be part of his beloved girl band.
But a year later, reports surfaced that Hyon and a dozen other North Korean performers were executed by Kim’s firing squad for making and distributing pornographic videotapes, according to Chosun Ilbo.
The execution reports turned out to be false - but she's not been seen much since.
However last diplomats at South Korea's negotiations with North Korea might have think they saw a ghost after Kim Jong-un's ex sat down at one of the tables.
The dictator's former lover appeared at the meeting with top level officials.
Making it only the second rumoured sighting of Hyon after years of speculation she was executed by firing squad at Kim's command - until now.
Hyon, the leader of the Moranbong Band, joined the four-member delegation as part of the the talks to bring a 140-member art troupe to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
One of the ensemble’s hits include a cover version of the “Rocky” theme song, Yonhap reported
In photos provided by South Korea Unification Ministry, the head of North Korean Hyon Song Wol, sits during the meeting with South Korea at the North side of Panmunjom in North Korea,
But before her unexpected appearance Monday, Hyon, said to be in her 40s, was reportedly Kim’s ex-lover.
In 2015, Hyon appeared in Beijing when the Moranbong Band was sent on a six-day “friendship” tour.
But it just furthered fuelled rumours that she was dead after the woman greeted reporters and grinned but refused to answer questions about her disappearance.
"Where do you come from?" she replied to a reporter, according to Yonhap.
Hyon also wields some political power within the regime. She was promoted last year to the Central Committee of the Workers Party, the Korea Herald reported.
She is also a colonel in the Korean People’s Army of the North.
