Kim, Moon to Dine on `Sunshine Menu' at Inter-Korean Summit
Two Korean Leaders to Dine on `Sunshine Menu' at Summit Banquet
(Bloomberg) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will dine together Friday after the first inter-Korean summit in 11 years at the border village of Panmunjom.
The specially curated banquet menu “reflects the leaders that contributed to the history” of the peninsula, and includes specialties from the hometowns of the two liberal South Korean leaders that have met their counterparts north of the border, presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a briefing Tuesday.
Here’s what’s on offer:
Dumplings with croaker fish and sea cucumber
The dish hails from Gageo Island, Shinan county, where former President Kim Dae-jung was born. South Korea’s only ever Nobel Peace laureate coined the term “Sunshine Policy” for his dovish stance on North Korea, and in 2000 met then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang at the first-ever inter-Korean summit.
Rice organically produced using ducks
This process of using trained ducks for weeding and pest control on rice farms originated in Bonghwa county, South Gyeongsang Province, where former President Roh Moo-hyun was born. Roh carried on with the Sunshine Policy, meeting Kim Jong Il in 2007.
Charcoal-grilled beef
The beef comes from Seosan county, South Chungcheong province, the hometown of Chung Ju-yung, the founder of the Hyundai group who in 1998 delivered 500 cattle in a convoy of trucks across the border as a donation to North Korea. Kim Jong Il sent a personal condolence message and a wreath to honor the 10th anniversary of Chung’s death in 2011.
Grilled John Dory
The fish comes from the southern South Korean port city of Busan where Moon spent his youth. He also started his first human rights law firm in the city with former president Roh Moo-hyun in 1982.
Cold salad with octopus
The octopus is from Tongyeong at the southern tip of the peninsula, where Korean-born German composer Yun I-sang was born. He was known for his works on the resistance against the Japanese occupation.
Rosti
A potato fritter style popular in Switzerland, where Kim Jong Un studied as a youth.
North Korean cold noodles
The noodles are from Okryu-gwan, a restaurant in Pyongyang founded in 1960 that North Korea-watcher Andrei Lankov has called a “living museum of culinary art.” Moon’s spokesman said that the president specifically requested them, adding that the head chef of the restaurant will specially install a noodle-making machine in the venue’s kitchen.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Andy Sharp
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