Leaders of two Koreas to hold symbolic tree-planting ceremony
The leaders of South and North Korea will hold a tree-planting ceremony when they meet this week for an historic summit, as part of efforts to symbolize their wish for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, a presidential official said Thursday.
President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to meet on Friday on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom for what will be the third summit since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.
After their summit talks, to be held earlier in the day, Moon and Kim plan to plant a pine tree on the military demarcation line (MDL) that separates the two Koreas, President Moon Jae-in's chief of staff Im Jong-seok, told a press briefing here.
They selected a 1953-born tree to symbolize the year that the armistice was signed to end the three-year internecine war.
The site for the tree planting will be near the road that late founder of Hyundai Group Chung Ju-yung used in late the 1990s when he led truckloads of cows to the North as part of reconciliatory efforts.
They will use soil collected from Mt. Halla in the South and Mt. Baekdu in the North. Kim will pour water gleaned from the Han River of the South and Moon from the Daedong River of the North, he added.
South Korea is said to have requested the joint tree planting, which was accepted by the North. The two leaders' names will be inscribed on a stone in front of the tree that will also carry the phrase, "Plant peace and prosperity." (Yonhap)