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A monument South Korea prepared to place in North Korea to commemorate the bilateral summit in early October last year was unceremoniously swapped for a smaller affair, it has emerged. The south carried a pine tree and a stone monument to the North on Oct. 4.
The monument was a 250-kg stone with the names of President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il inscribed. It is not North Korean custom to place a monument in front of a commemorative tree. But Seoul asked Pyongyang to make an exception for this occasion and the North accepted the request.
However, Kim did not keep a promise to appear at the tree-planting event and sent Kim Yong-nam, the largely ceremonial president of the Supreme People's Assembly, instead. As a result, the stone with the names of the two leaders was not placed and South Korea took it back home.
Later, former National Intelligence Service Director Kim Man-bok, in a now-notorious visit to Pyongyang on the eve of the presidential election here, placed a stone marking President Roh¡¯s visit to the North, not the inter-Korean summit, in Pyongyang. The stone was smaller, weighing 75 kg and now reading, ¡°Wishing for a unified nation, President of the Republic of Korea Roh Moo-hyun, October 2-4 2007.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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