I am smiling and strangely very happy seeing Presidents Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un greeting each other smiling and chatting

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Watching live on BBC news

They both look really pleased and happy to be shaking hands and going from South to North and back again over the border line between South & North

The politics of it all is a bit too complicated for me but the expressions on both their faces was amazing

I really hope ALL the Korean people are able to watch it too

You could say Obama was trying the diplomatic approach & 45 had nothing to do with this change of heart. Lots of reasons possibly & all good.

But no political arguments today - let’s not kill the celebrations ! Long may it last !

The mood here is very hopeful, even among people who are generally sceptical of Kim/NK.

I don’t think anyone thinks they’re going to be signing a peace treaty today or something but knowing that there is hope is big for people here.

If it was Trump or Moon is pretty irrelevant I’d say. Whoever has managed to get this to happen has done a stunning job considering we were worried about war this time last year (been here 10ish years and it was the first time I had ever seen my husband worry about it even a little.)

Just woken up and BBC is showing live footage of them both sitting relaxed together having a chat on a blue bridge

They don't have any "advisors" with them just the two of them having a relaxed chat

So pleased for you, your family and friends ThisIsTheFirstStep

I know this is a silly question but does Kim (or those from or escaped from NK) speak with a strong accent to SK hearing?

I mean is it like people from Bristol talking to Glasgow? both speaking same language but cos of distance and not mixing much between them both sound very different

Yeah, they have quite a strong accent, it's pretty different. Even native South Koreans struggle to understand them. It sounds quite choppy compared to the standard south Korean accent (there are a few different accents here, but they're not that varied compared to the UK.)

One main feature is that they tend to use a different register, kind of hard to describe, but depending on who you're talking to, there are different styles of speaking, so eg I address my colleague in one style (add -yo) to the ends of sentences and my friends in another (drop -yo or add -ya depending). There is another style that adds -imnida to the ends of sentences - South Koreans only use this for quite official business, like in the military or on the news. But North Koreans use it almost all the time, so they sound quite stiff and formal.

I heard that instead of calling each other by a title like 'brother', 'sister', 'aunt' etc which is common among South Koreans, they call everyone 'comrade'.

And South Koreans use a lot of English loan words like 'computer' or 'marketing' whereas North Koreans don't use any, they use their own words.

Like, you could definitely notice someone was North Korean unless they really worked on their accent. The accent is about as different as between London and Glasgow, I'd say. So quite a huge difference.

Thank you for explaining - very interesting

Seems like a really positive step and excellent news. I worry I am being naive

stealth nothing wrong with finding it positive. No one here is thinking that everything is going to be perfect from now on, or that we're going to sign a peace treaty or reunify tomorrow, but it's nice to have some hope.

Talking can only be a good thing.

Props to Moon Jae In because I assume he behind a lot of this.

OP, something I just noticed about Kim's accent - when he says 'president' in Korean, it sounds kind of weird. It should be 'dae tong ryung' but he pronounces it like 'dae ton ryun', like an 'n' sound instead of an 'ng' sound.

Not sure if that's generally a feature of NK Korean or just him.

Ok that is very interesting

@Thisisthefirststep Your posts are fascinating, thank you.

When you say about the NK accent, how do you know? I'm not doubting you, but do people in SK have any contact at all with people in NK or is it just people who have escaped and live in SK now?

It's a country which fascinates me since I know somebody who has spent time there but who doesn't talk about it.

Last night we were both watching the conversations between Kim and Moon but in UK it was being dubbed into English but in Korea they were hearing the conversations live iyswim

Hence why I asked ThisIsTheFirstStep about accents of the two men

It is a shame that the coverage during the day, today, hasn't included the impromptu moment of them holding hands and going over the border line to the North side

It was so amazing to watch as a it happened, they were so relaxed and happy looking

day There is more contact than you'd imagine between the two countries.

Until recently, there was a joint industrial project between them (Kaesong) in NK with Koreans from both sides working together.

There are tons of TV shows with people who escaped from NK (like panel show kind of things). There's one called 'Now on my Way to Meet You' where they do dance routines and sketches and stuff. That girl that did the TED talk (Park Yeonmi) was on it for a while.

The SK government monitors NK TV too and if they say something particularly mad, they show it on the news (jolly NK newscasters saying 'we will bomb the imperialist scum into hell! Have a wonderful evening! Good night!' And we get Kim Jong Un on TV pretty often, like every time they have a big general meeting. I actually think they maybe let SK cameras in to see those, because the quality is really good when I think about it.

Some high level government people will occasionally be allowed to go to the west to do stuff like join in in international festivals and whatnot. My husband randomly met a NK woman when he was on a business trip to France, she was running a stall about agriculture in NK. They chatted a lot and he tried to help her do something (lift something heavy or something, I don't remember). He said her accent when she told him not to help sounded soooo harsh (SK tend to talk quite politely unless they're angry.) But then she said he reminded her of his son and gave him an apple and invited him to dinner, but he was too scared to go haha.

There are lots of films and dramas where there are NK characters (usually soliders), like if you watch the first episode of Descendants of the Sun (madly popular drama), the first scene has soldiers with NK accents.

So there is actually quite a lot of contact which I was also surprised about.

OP, I'm surprised they're not repeating the footage of them stepping over to the north side, that's the main thing they're showing for us. From all angles, and with people's reactions from the press centre, from the big TV in front of City Hall...I think it's everyone's favourite moment from a day with a LOT of big moments.

If you check out Arirang TV www.arirang.com/news/iks/index.asp?sys_lang=Eng&category=11 they have a lot of clips.

And this is why MN is so fab, a thread about Korea and we have someone who knows their stuff popping up with some really interesting posts! I’d love to hear more!

Can I watch this meeting anywhere on a replay?

blossom I don’t really know that much tbh, Koreannpolitics is far too confusing and fast-changing.

There are lots of links on the arirang website I posted above. The meeting lasted from about 9.30 til maybe 8.00 in the evening and about half was televised so there is a lot to see.

Moon’s wife (v well respected here because she is very normal, still goes to shops on her own with no make up and stuff) did a lot of preparation, in terms of decorating the Peace House where they met, and when they met Kim’s wife said ‘you put so much effort in, I’m so embarrassed because I couldn’t do anything to help’ which I thought was a sweet moment.

Thanks, this is fascinating.