N. Koreans greet South’s leader with unity cries
President SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Moon Jae-in of South Korea was greeted by throngs of North Koreans shouting “Reunification of the fatherland!” as he arrived in the North on Tuesday on a highstakes mission to persuade its leader, Kim Jong Un, to commit to start dismantling his nuclear weapons program.
Moon is holding his third summit with Kim, a threeday visit during which the two will discuss improving inter-Korean ties and easing tensions along their countries’ border, the most militarized in the world. It was Moon’s first visit to Pyongyang as South Korea’s leader and it comes after the two met on the border in April and May.
The big question hovering over the talks is whether Kim will agree to take steps to convince Washington that he is willing to denuclearize. U.S. officials want to see concrete steps from the North, including submitting a full list of its nuclear weapons and facilities and fissile materials, and they want it to freeze its nuclear activities.
Kim expressed optimism Tuesday about the future of the negotiations, thanking Moon for helping bring about his June summit meeting with President Donald Trump in Singapore.
“Thanks to that meeting, the situation around the Korean Peninsula has stabilized and we can now expect more progress,” Kim said at the start of a two-hour meeting with Moon at the headquarters of the ruling Workers’ Party, according to pool reports from South Korean journalists in Pyongyang, the North’s capital.
Kim greeted Moon on Tuesday morning at the Pyongyang airport, kicking off a spectacle that stressed the ethnic affinity of the two Koreas, while giving few clues to whether he is willing to give up his nuclear weapons.
When Moon stepped off his plane, a smiling Kim was waiting on the tarmac with a military honor guard and a large crowd of Pyongyang citizens mobilized for his arrival. After the two leaders hugged each other and moved to their cars, the crowd fervently chanted “Hurrah!” and “Peace and prosperity!” while waving plastic flowers and “Koreais-one” flags that showed an undivided Korean Peninsula.
As the motorcade carrying Moon and Kim to a state guesthouse wove through Pyongyang, huge crowds, mostly women clad in bright flowing dresses, lined the boulevard, waving pink flowers and chanting for reunification.
Over the years, the North’s propaganda toward the South has mostly focused on ridiculing it as an “American running dog.” But when it seeks warmer ties with the South, it also stresses the ethnic affinity of the two nations.
Tuesday’s crowds were clearly mobilized to demonstrate the North Koreans’ adoration for Kim and their support for his uriminzokkiri, or “among our nation,” policy of stressing inter-Korean cooperation while the North engages in a nuclear standoff with the United States.
The highly choreographed crowds like those seen Tuesday remain a regular phenomenon in North Korea, where the state routinely mobilizes the populace as a way of keeping them loyal and disciplined, analysts say.
Moon and Kim were scheduled to announce the results of their meetings today.