The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
They expressed scepticism on prospects for a summit, with professor Koh Yu-hwan of Dongguk University not expecting one “in the foreseeable future”.
“Kim’s proposal for a summit with Moon is based on the premise that the North will stick to its nuclear weapons while seeking rapprochement with the South,” he told AFP. “The North is not interested in talks on denuclearisation.”
– Kimchi and soju –
The North Koreans earlier attended a banquet hosted by the South’s unification minister Cho Myong-gyon.
“Although it’s my first time here, it doesn’t feel strange. It’s not unfamiliar,” Kim said when asked by one of the South Koreans at the dinner how she feels on the other side of the border.
Moon shook hands with both Kim Yo Jong and Kim Yong Nam at the opening ceremony and they cheered as athletes from North and South entered the arena together behind a unification flag showing an undivided Korean peninsula.
But the US vice president did not shake hands with Kim Yong Nam while making a brief appearance at a leaders’ reception ahead of the ceremony — although Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did so.
“The US will not allow the propaganda charade by the North Korean regime to go unchallenged on the world stage,” Pence tweeted on Saturday. “The world can NOT turn a blind eye to the oppression & threats of the Kim regime.”
In stark contrast, two kinds of kimchi — the fermented cabbage that features in every Korean meal — were on the menu for the delegation’s lunch with Moon at the Blue House on Saturday, one mild Northern style version and a spicier Southern recipe, along with soju, the traditional Korean rice liquor.
The smiles and handshakes were friendlier than some of the North’s past history with the complex — in 1968 Pyongyang sent commandos to attack it to try to assassinate the South’s then leader.
