Deccan Chronicle

Moon, Kim’s sis watch concert

■ Kim on Saturday invited Moon to a summit in North

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Seoul: South Korean President Moon Jae-in sat next to the powerful sister of the North’s leader Kim Jong Un at a concert in Seoul by musicians from Pyongyang, as conservati­ve protesters burned the North’s national flag outside on Sunday. Kim on Saturday invited Moon to a summit in the North, an offer extended by his sister and special envoy Kim Yo Jong, who made a historic visit to the South since the Korean War.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in sat next to the powerful sister of the North’s leader Kim Jong Un at a concert in Seoul by musicians from Pyongyang, as conservati­ve protesters burned the North’s national flag outside on Sunday. The show was the final set-piece element of the North Korean delegation’s landmark visit, the diplomatic highlight of the Olympics-driven rapprochem­ent between the two halves of the peninsula.

They have shared kimchi and soju, sat in the same box at the Olympics opening ceremony and cheered a unified women’s ice hockey team.

Kim on Saturday invited Moon to a summit in the North, an offer extended by his sister and special envoy Kim Yo Jong, who made history as the first member of the North’s ruling dynasty to visit the South since the Korean War.

Pictures showed Yo Jong seated between Moon and the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam, who is officially leading the North’s delegation, and applauding at Sunday’s concert.

At a dinner beforehand with senior Seoul officials, Yo Jong said she found the two Koreas still had much in common despite decades of separation. Before flying South, she said, she had expected “things would be very different and unfamiliar”.

 ??  ?? South Korean President Moon Jae-in, second from right, applauds with Kim Yo Jong, third from right, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, during a performanc­e of North Korea’s Samjiyon Orchestra at National Theater in Seoul, on Sunday.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, second from right, applauds with Kim Yo Jong, third from right, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, during a performanc­e of North Korea’s Samjiyon Orchestra at National Theater in Seoul, on Sunday.

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