Moon, Kim scale new heights
BUCKET LIST: CLIMBING MOUNT PAEKTU IN NORTH
South Korean president has trekked the Himalayas at least twice.
Seoul
South Korean President Moon Jae-in cleared a top item off his bucket list yesterday: climbing Mount Paektu in North Korea with its leader, Kim Jong-un. After the two leaders pledged new steps aimed at salvaging nuclear talks on Wednesday, Moon and Kim decided to use the final day of their three-day summit to go up the symbolic mountain on the Chinese border together.
Moon is known for his love of mountain climbing and has trekked in Himalayas at least twice.
The president has long stated that visiting Mount Paektu was a “long unfulfilled dream”.
“Many people in the south would go to Mount Paektu from the China side, but I decided not to, pledging myself that I would go stepping on our soil,” Moon told Kim after reaching the peak of the mountain.
“But time flew so fast, and I thought my wish may not come true, but it did today.”
As Moon arrived at an airport near the mountain, about 1 000 North Koreans greeted him.
Moon and Kim took a cable car together to Heaven Lake and walked around the area with their wives and officials from both sides.
Pictures showed Moon and Kim smiling and posing with their wives, and Moon filling a bottle with water from the lake.
“The Chinese envy us because they can’t go down to the lake from their side, but we can,” Kim said.
“We should write another chapter of history between the North and the South by reflecting our new history on this Heaven Lake.”
Some senior South Korean officials accompanying Moon suggested inviting Kim and his wife to Mount Halla, the highest mountain and a scenic tourist resort in the South. – Reuters