The handshake that brings N Korea in from the cold
NORTH Korean dictator Kim Jong-un chose the icy setting of the Winter Olympics yesterday to launch a charm offensive aimed at thawing relations with South Korea.
His younger sister Kim Yo Jong shook hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and gave him a handwritten note inviting him to take part in a summit at ‘the earliest possible date’.
Mr Moon responded by saying: ‘Let us make it happen by creating the necessary conditions in the future.’ If it does take place, the meeting would be the first time the heads of state from North and South have met for a decade.
Ms Kim, 30, the regime’s propaganda chief and an increasingly influential figure in North Korea, is the first member of Pyongyang’s ruling dynasty to set foot in the South since the end of the Korean war in 1953.
She was accompanied by Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state.
The two sides spoke for three hours over lunch at the presidential palace in Seoul.
According to reports, Ms Kim left a note at the palace expressing hope that ‘Pyongyang and Seoul will become closer in the heart of Koreans’ and for ‘unification and prosperity in the near future’.
Earlier, the pair had exchanged pleasantries. ‘You must have had a hard time due to the cold weather,’ Mr Moon said as he greeted Ms Kim. ‘It was okay because you, Mr President, were kind enough to care,’ she reportedly replied.
US Vice President Mike Pence snubbed the lunch and avoided interaction with Ms Kim.