Inter-Korean Summit related headlines

- Viewing ratings of summit-related breaking news from three major news chaneels yesterday added up to 14.5 per cent, down by 5.8 per cent from 20.3 per cent in 2000.

- Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo didn’t shake hands with Kim Jong-il in a customary Korean way. He, relatively tall among entourage, neither lowered his back nor bowed, which is interpreted by some as an act to boost morale of Korean soldiers.

- Orchestrated North Koreans didn’t chant “Roh Moo-hyun,” in contrast to the first summit when some people shouted “welcome Kim Dae-jung.” This time around, people in Pyongyang streets seem a little bit relaxed, naturally waving hands to the car parade.

- North Korean bodyguards caught attention with a whole different Western-style outfits and new equipment such as earphone. In 2000, they wore military uniforms with guns to their waist.

- North Korean leadership accompanying Kim Jong-il seemed younger, twice as many from 2000. Jang Seok-taek attended as well.

- A play titled “Oknyu (옥녀)” is reported very popular among North Koreans, which was played in a theater just before Roh’s visit to Pyongyang. It depicts a South Korean woman who feels sudden labor pangs while watching Arirang performance and gives birth in a Pyongyang hospital, and Kim Jong Il, who hears about the news, specially allows the woman to go back to South Korea by land, citing taking a flight might not be good for the health of the woman and her baby.