China has dropped plans to seat South and North Korean leaders together during the Beijing Olympics, apparently because of objections from its communist ally, officials and reports said yesterday.
The move dashes hopes of a rapprochement meeting following months of tensions worsened by the North’s shooting of a Seoul tourist last month.
China had arranged for South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and North Korea’s No. 2 leader Kim Yong-nam to sit at the same table during a welcoming lunch today.
PHOTO: EPA
But it changed the plan and moved Lee and Kim further apart, the presidential office in Seoul said.
“The two were supposed to sit at the same table but China changed the plan,” a presidential official said, refusing to confirm media reports that the change followed objections from North Korea.
The North cut official ties with the South in protest at Lee’s tougher line on cross-border relations. The July 11 fatal shooting of the tourist who strayed into a military area at Mount Kumgang resort further soured relations.
Kim arrived in Beijing yesterday to attend the Olympic opening ceremony while Lee will leave for China today.
Chosun Ilbo newspaper said Chinese authorities had arranged for Lee and Kim to sit next to each other during the lunch hosted by President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
The seating plan was changed after objections from North Korea, the paper said in a report this week.
The paper said China also originally arranged for Lee and Kim to sit close to each other for today’s opening ceremony, in accordance with the alphabetical order of country names.
But when North Korea demanded its English designation of “DPRK” for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, organizers also listed the South by its formal name of Republic of Korea, Chosun said.
As a result, Kim was expected to sit in the front row of the VIP box and Lee in the rear.
The use of the formal names will also separate the two squads during the parade, it said.
Pyongyang has so far rejected calls for a joint march by athletes from the two Koreas in Beijing, even though they marched together at Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004.
North Korea will have 60 athletes at the Games while South Korea has 267.
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