Hyon Song wol

Career

Hyon's biggest hit was the song "Excellent Horse-Like Lady" (Chosŏn'gŭl: 준마처녀; Hancha: 駿馬處女; RR: Junma Cheo'nyeo; MR: Chunma Ch'ŏnyŏ), a 2005 song extolling the virtues of a Stakhanovite textile factory worker. The accompanying music video stars Hyon in the role of the girl in the saddle of a steed, "dashing around a sparkling factory with a beatific smile, distributing bobbins and collecting swatches of cloth at top speed." The lyrics include:

In December 2015, Hyon travelled to Beijing to perform with the Moranbong Band in a series of private concerts.

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. She was reported to have known Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, since they were both teenagers. South Korean government sources told the media that Hyon and Kim Jong-un had been romantically involved in the early 2000s after he returned to North Korea from his studies at a private school in Switzerland. His father reportedly disapproved of the relationship and the younger Kim and Hyon broke it off.

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".

In March 2012, Hyon made her first public appearance in six years when she performed, while heavily pregnant, in an event in Pyongyang to mark International Women's Day. Fresh interest in Hyon was kindled in July 2012 when she was misidentified in footage taken by the North Korean state television station showing a woman sitting next to Kim Jong-un at a musical performance. It was thought at first that she might have been a previously undisclosed wife of Kim or his younger sister, but South Korean intelligence officials identified her as Hyon. Some suggested that she may have been given the job of running the state art troupe. However, North Korean television announced that the woman was in fact Kim Jong-un's wife, Ri Sol-ju, and not Hyon.

Execution rumors

On 29 August 2013, The Chosun Ilbo reported that Hyon had been executed by firing squad on the orders of Kim Jong-un along with eleven 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." A video of the singer performing a dance was uploaded to a Chinese video website called Youku, which was allegedly the video in question.

The reported reasons for the executions were questioned by Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura of Tokyo's Waseda University, who commented, "if these people had only made pornographic videos, then it is simply not believable that their punishment was execution." He suggested that they were killed for political reasons, perhaps related to factional conflicts in the North Korean elite, or simply as a result of a grudge: "as Kim's wife [Ri Sol-ju] once belonged to the same group, it is possible that these executions are more about Kim's wife."

Other experts such as Steven Herman, Voice of America correspondent, and Chad O'Carroll, of NK News, argued against the authenticity of The Chosun Ilbo report. O'Carroll said "These rumors start with unnamed and unverified sources in the South Korean media and, for the most part, they're not true (and impossible to prove)." Hermen was also skeptical of the reports, saying "...mainstream media in South Korea has repeatedly been wrong on these sensationalistic stories originating from the North." While he did not totally dismiss the possibility of The Chosun Ilbo report's honesty, Steven Herman added, "There will be no way to confirm these sort of stories until after the DPRK collapses, or we have first-hand testimony with credible evidence from reliable defectors."

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, disproving the rumors.