President Moon gearing up for Olympic diplomacy Pt. II

Feb 23, 2018, 09:00 am

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President Moon Jae-in poses for photos in the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in January after an interview with the U.S. magazine Monocle./ Source: Cheong Wa Dae

By AsiaToday reporter Son Ji-eun

President Moon Jae-in will be engaging in the second part of his "PyeongChang peace diplomacy" around the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics. North Korea's delegation headed by Kim Yong-chol, the head of the United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, will arrive in South Korea on Sunday while the U.S. delegation led by Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, a senior White House adviser, will arrive today. The delegation of the United States is expected to meet President Moon as well as North Korean delegation during their South Korea visit. Besides, there is also a possibility of any contact between North Korea and the United States that had been scrapped in the opening ceremony.

North Korea has informed South Korea's unification ministry on Thursday that it would dispatch delegation for a three-day trip on Sunday. The delegates include Kim Yong-chol and Peaceful Reunification Committee Chairman Ri Son-gwon. "We expect that North Korea's high-level delegation's participation in the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will help advance the process of settling peace on the Korean Peninsula including the improvement of inter-Korean relations and denuclearization," the unification ministry said.

Cheong Wa Dae also announced that President Moon will meet the North Korean delegation. "President Moon and the delegation will meet naturally at the closing ceremony on Sunday, and they will discuss various issues for the peace on the Korean Peninsula as well as development of the two countries and reconciliation," a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said.

Ahead of the North Korean delegation's arrival, the U.S. delegation led by Ivanka Trump will visit South Korea on Friday. The U.S. delegates include White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. Ivanka Trump will dine with Moon at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Friday and spend time with American athletes in Pyeongchang. She will attending the closing ceremony and leave South Korea on Monday.

As the periods of both North Korean and U.S. delegations' stays overlap, an encounter between the two sides will take place in some way. However, it remains unclear whether the both sides will sit on the same table.

#President Moon Jae-in #Olympic #diplomacy #Ivanka Trump #Kim Yong-chol