A briefing of the events of the morning by President Moon’s spokesperson Yoon Young-chan gives the impression it was a very convivial meeting between the two leaders.
He said that Moon has invited Kim to the South Korean Presidential house, an offer that Kim has accepted. Moon also said he hoped the summit would lead to future meetings in Pyongyang, a proposal supported by Kim who said “let’s meet often.”
All talk is of the unscripted moment when President Moon momentarily stepped over the demarcation line and into North Korea.
This is reportedly how it came about:
Elise Hu
(@elisewho)Blue House spox on how that unscripted moment happened: Moon said to Kim, “When do I get to visit the North? And KJU said, why don’t you just come over to the North side now?” And that’s what led to them popping over to the North for a few moments.
April 27, 2018
The topics trending on Korean twitter indicate that the people of South Korea have high hopes for the summit
Ruth Pollard
(@rpollard)Trending on Korean twitter (from @TheJihyeLee @bpolitics):
* Pyongyang cold noodles
* South North summit talks
* “Chairman” Kim Jong Un
* Mister President
* A new history
* The era of peaceApril 27, 2018
The morning summit meeting has been completed and the two leaders will now be breaking for lunch separately. Kim Jong-un and his delegation will be crossing back over to the North to eat, before coming back over the border.
China is watching the summit closely, with news of the meeting occupying most of China Central Television (CCTV) coverage today.
Li Xiyu, a professor of politics and diplomacy at Sungkyunkwan University told the Chinese publication, the Paper, that it’s still too early to talk about reunification but that the two sides would remain committed to peace.
Still, on social media Chinese internet users were excited about the prospect and drew comparisons to the possibility of China reuniting with Taiwan. Beijing claims that Taiwan, which has been ruled by its own government for decades, belongs to mainland China.
“If brothers can share the same heart and mud become gold, the two sides of the strait can reunify,” one internet user posted on Weibo. Another wrote, “Let’s witness history. I hope Taiwan can return to China someday.”
“The Berlin Wall fell. The 38th parallel is blurred. I just want Taiwan to cross the ocean, like a long lost kid returning to his mother.”
While people around the world were gripped by live TV coverage of this morning’s historic handshake between Moon and Kim, the people of North Korea were not among them. According to Martyn Williams, who runs the North Korea Tech blog, state run TV did not broadcast the event.
Martyn Williams
(@martyn_williams)The #koreansummit is news everywhere, except North Korea. Here’s a taster of what North Korean TV viewers got to see vs the rest of the world.
April 27, 2018
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said just over a third of TV viewers in the Seoul area watched live images of the leaders’ greeting each other across the military demarcation line separating their countries.
From Martin Farrer again:
Amid the heady talk of a new bginning for the Koreas, there is some chatter about what reunification would mean for the countries’ economies, ie a huge bailout for the North by the South.
Tony Nash
(@TonyNashOnAsia)And reunification would mean a massive bailout of the North by the South. Here are some details on NK’s dismal economy
April 27, 2018
Meanwhile, Asian shares are still in positive territory. The Kospi is up 0.7% despite that admittedly still very, very distant prospect of the South bailing out the North. Here’s what one trader, Mingze Wu, of INTL FCStone in Singapore, has told Reuters:
The easing of tension and the possibility of a peace treaty coming on the horizon are bullish for the won South Korean currency and Kospi. However, it should be noted that prices did not have lasting weakness in the past during the periods of escalation, hence it’ll be difficult to imagine a new bullish trend emerging just from this.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has expressed doubt that the summit will bring any significant shifts.
“We have had false dawns before on the Korean peninsula,” he said.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was equally hesitant to hail the meeting between North and South Korea as definite progress towards denuclearisation.
“I think we should maintain our expectations,” she said. “This is a first step, a preliminary step.”
Kim Chang Su from the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said the opening greeting between the two leaders made him optimistic about the summit, particularly as the focus is on talks of “peace” rather that reunification of North and South.
He pointed out that during the meeting of the two leaders at the demarcation line, the pair shook hands and then Kim Jong-un and President Moon both crossed over to the North side of the border, a very symbolic gesture “It’s very surprising but that’s a sign of harmony, rather than just one side forcing these talks on the other. It was a bold gesture by Kim Jong-un.”
“So far these seem to be very open minded discussions, a sign that we are heading to a new era of peace,” he added.
According a Reuters reporter, minutes before Kim entered Peace House, a North Korean security team conducted a sweep for explosives and listening devices, as well as sprayed apparent disinfectant in the air, on the chairs, and on the guest book.
From Martin Farrer:
The money people obviously enjoyed seeing the two Korean leaders meeting today as the Kospi index in Seoul soared more than 1%. The Nikkei in Tokyo also looks healthy after rising 0.3% so far while Hong Kong is up 0.76%.
The prices are off a little bit now from earlier highs, so perhaps the early gains were as much to do with a strong showing on Wall Street overnight. But what’s clear is that nuclear tension on the Korean peninsula is not a factor in dragging stocks lower, as it was a few months ago.
CNBC-TV18
(@CNBCTV18Live)#CNBCTV18Market | Asia trading in the green but slips off highs, KOSPI near low point f of the day
April 27, 2018
Kim also revealed that he had brought Moon an edible gift from over the border.
“I saw earlier that the dinner menu here is a very hot topic,” he said. “I also brought with me cold noodles from Pyongyang so President I hope you can enjoy the Pyongyang noodles.”
From Benjamin in the DMZ:
Kim and Moon sat down for the beginning of the summit and made brief remarks in from of the cameras.
Kim said he wanted to hold “frank” discussions on current issues and hoped the summit could lead to a “good outcome”. I hope to write a new chapter between us, this is the starting point for us. We will make a new beginning,” he said. “It has taken 11 years for this historic moment to happen. Walking here I wondered why it has taken so long.”
“Through today’s meeting, I hope we won’t go back to square one again and non-implementation of what we agree won’t happen again,” he added, referring to past agreements that were signed but fizzled. “I hope we can live up to the exceptions that other have on us”, and “I hope there can be agreements to fulfill those great expectations.”
The two leaders sit down for talks. Photograph: Reuters Tv/Reuters
Moon then made a few opening remarks before journalists were asked to leave.
“I hope the whole world is paying attention to the Spring that is spreading throughout the Korean peninsula,” he said. “There is a huge burden on our shoulders. People around the world have high hopes.”
“Your visit makes the military demarcation line a symbol of peace, not division,” he added. “I thank you very much for your courage. Our dialogue and talks today will be very frank. We will finally have the dialogue we haven’t been able to have for the past decade.”
Kim and Moon admire a painting of Mount Kumgang in the summit meeting room. Photograph: Reuters Tv/Reuters
And here’s a video of the historic moment that Kim Jong-un crossed the border and shook hands President Moon- the first time the two leaders have met
North and South Korean leaders shake hands at the border – video
Japan’s defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, has said Tokyo hopes the summit will lead to demonstrable progress on North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes, and a resolution of the regime’s cold war abductions of Japanese nationals. “Japan will be watching closely for signs that North Korea is taking action on these issues,” he said.
Japan claims that 17 of its nationals – and perhaps many more – were abducted in the 1970s and 1980s and put to work teaching North Korean agents their language and culture. In 2002, five abductees were allowed to return to Japan. North Korea claimed that eight abductees died and that the remaining four had never entered the country.
Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has reportedly received assurances from Moon that he will raise the abduction issue with Kim at today’s summit.
