As Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump meet for a summit on North Korea, alliance and trade on Tuesday, their wives plan to get chummy with confabs, tea time and a brief stroll around the presidential compound. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — As Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump meet for a summit on North Korea, alliance and trade on Tuesday, their wives plan to get chummy with confabs, tea time and a brief stroll around the presidential compound.
South Korean first lady Kim Jung-sook and her counterpart Melania Trump will meet for the third time when Trump visits the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in central Seoul for a summit with Moon in the afternoon.
They previously met when Moon visited Washington D.C. in June for the first summit with Trump and the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, in July.
Kim will first have some 20-minute talks with Melania on the first floor of Cheong Wa Dae’s main building from 2:45 p.m., when the two leaders kick off their summit likely to be dominated by the issue of North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats, Seoul officials said.
Kim will then show Melania the portraits of former South Korean first ladies hung on the walls of a meeting room in the presidential office.
The two will begin taking a stroll around the presidential complex strewn with autumn trees, flowers and fallen leaves. There, Kim plans to introduce a number of South Korea’s unique wildflowers.
After their walk, the two will be greeted by a cheering group of 52 children, including some from the families of U.S. military and diplomatic personnel here.
As a token of gratitude for the warm welcome, Kim and Melania plan to give them mufflers in white, red and blue — the colors of the South Korean and U.S. national flags — and take photos, the presidential officials said.
At around 3:50 p.m., the two will enter Sangchunjae, a Korean-style house used to serve foreign dignitaries. There, they are to drink a type of black tea, named “Serene Morning of PyeongChang.” The tea has been specially designed to promote the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
They will sit next to a folding screen with a painting of peonies, which was used to show aspirations for national prosperity and well-being during ancient royal events. The screen has been set up there as an expression of hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula and enhanced friendship between South Korea and the U.S., officials here said.
Tea will also be served with dried persimmon that Kim has made, the officials said.
(Yonhap)
