hankyoreh

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (left) and South Korean National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik.

News of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s attendance at China’s “Victory Day” military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing on Sept. 3 has many wondering if Kim will speak with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, who will be representing South Korea at the festivities.
 
“A North Korean leader will, for the first time, make his debut on the stage of multilateral diplomacy,” an official at the Office of the Speaker told the Hankyoreh during a telephone interview. “We are preparing a variety of measures by considering all possibilities.” 

When asked if a meeting between Kim and Woo seemed likely, the official chose their words carefully, saying, “It’s too soon to tell.”
 
China invited Woo, the No. 2 in Korea’s order of precedence, to the celebration when it became clear that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung would not be able to attend in person. If Kim and Woo do convene for a meeting during the event, it will be the first time that two top political figures from both Koreas make contact during Lee’s term in office. 
 
However, considering Kim’s stance that the two Koreas share relations between “hostile” and “belligerent” states, the North Korean leader may avoid Woo. 

When former President Park Geun-hye attended the Victory Day parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in 2015, no meeting was held between her and Workers’ Party of Korea secretary Choe Ryong-hae, who attended the event as the representative of North Korea.
 
“We cannot rule out the possibility that North Korea will snub us or introduce itself to us with the confidence one has as a totally alien state, seeing how it has defined us as a ‘hostile state.’ We need to wait and see how North Korea’s negotiations with China will influence its movements,” suggested Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
 
Woo Sang-ho, the senior secretary to the president for political affairs, commented on the development as he met with journalists at a workshop for Democratic Party lawmakers in preparation for a regular assembly session on the same day.

 “Seeing how Woo and Kim sat down for drinks during the last inter-Korean summit, they will not go out of their way to ignore each other. While the possibility of a summit or a brief conversation may be slim, it is likely that they will at least greet each other at the event’s reception,” the former lawmaker said. 

By Ko Han-sol, staff reporter

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