Not since the 1950-53 Korean War had a North Korean leader set foot on South Korean soil. That's something Kim's grandfather, the North Korean regime's founding leader Kim Il Sung, or his father, Kim Jong Il, never did. Kim mentioned the contentious issue of North Korean defectors - who are routinely denounced in North Korean media as "human scum" - and even referred to the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, which North Korean forces shelled in 2010, killing four people. Kim said he had heard good things about a South Korean high-speed train built for the Winter Olympics, and expressed concern that North Korea's traffic system would "cause inconvenience" should Moon visit. (Reporting by Christine Kim, Josh Smith, Heekyong Yang and Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps; Writing by Malcolm Foster; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel)

Source: The Star April 27, 2018 03:00 UTC