Kim Jong-Un Impersonator Meets North Korean Cheerleaders At Olympics

The story of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang has undoubtedly been North Korea’s presence at the games. Though the nation traditionally competes in the Olympics, its presence in South Korea has been a novel sign of potential easing of diplomatic tensions between the neighboring countries.

Head of state Kim Jong-un did not appear at the games, but his sister Kim Yo-jong became the first member of that family to step foot in South Korea in almost 70 years. Her rare, amicable public appearances with South Korean leadership led to even rarer positive media attention for the North.

However, since Kim Jong-un would not personally show up to the Olympics, an Australian impersonator stepped in for him. He generated headlines Wednesday by appearing before the North Korean cheerleaders in the stands, which gave the cheerleaders a brief moment of pause before they realized what was going on, per Reuters. It was the same impersonator who attended the opening ceremony with a Donald Trump look-alike.

Identified only as an Australian man going by “Howard,” the impersonator showed up before the group of cheerleaders during the unified Korean hockey team’s game against Japan. Some of the cheerleaders were amused and some were not, according to Yahoo! Sports. Howard reportedly lives in Hong Kong and does not speak a lick of Korean. He was removed from the scene by guards not long after meeting the cheerleaders.

With their easily recognizable red coats, the North Korean cheerleaders generated media attention on their own as they supported their country’s athletes in the games. Some found them charming, while others saw them as a propaganda arm for North Korea, according to The Guardian.