By Sohn JiAe
Photos=Cheong Wa Dae

Details of the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit meeting room, such as the table, chairs, artwork and interior touches, were revealed on April 25, just two days to go until the historic event.

Vice presidential spokesperson Ko Minjung said in a press briefing at Cheong Wa Dae that, “The venue has been designed to embody the theme of ‘Welcoming, Consideration, Peace and Hope.’ We tried to put meaning and true heart into every single item, piece of furniture and painting.”

The meeting room is on the second floor of the Peace House in Panmunjeom. The South Korean delegation will enter from the left, while the North Koreans will come in from the right. Both sides will then be seated at the summit table, which is designed to look like two bridges merging as one. A total of 14 seats surround the oval table, seven per side. Both of the two middle seats are larger than the others, but of equal size, for President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The table is oval, not square or rectangular, a design that has been intended to allow the two leaders to have an open-minded, candid conversation, diminishing any psychological distance as well as physical boundaries that may have grown over the past 70 years since the division of Korea. The width of the table in the middle is 2,018 mm, representing the year 2018 when this historic Inter-Korean Summit is taking place.



The white chairs on which the leaders will sit are of a traditional design, modeled after Korean furniture, with a picture of the Korean Peninsula on the cresting rail.

The meeting venue is designed to feel like a traditional Hanok house, with 12-panelled windows made out of traditional changho paper and other Hanok elements set up on either wall. These paper windows mirror the hope that a trustworthy relationship between the two Koreas will last long after the summit ends, just as traditional changho paper is known for enduring many years without fading or cracking, the spokesperson said.

The blue carpet throughout the main meeting room represents all the mountains and streams across the peninsula and the wish that this summit will be a new start for peace.

On the front wall behind the table there's a large painting depicting the towering blue landscape of Geumgangsan Mountain. It’s an artwork by South Korean artist Shin Jang-sik titled “Geumgangsan Mountain Seen From the Sangpaldam Pond.” The two leaders will pose for a handshake in front of the painting.

Regarding the selection of this work, the government said, “It’s a mountain that has remained unreachable since 2008 and a mountain that many Koreans aspire to visit. Geumgangsan Mountain is a symbol of reconciliation and cooperation between the South and the North and having this symbol inside the meeting room shows our hope for a successful summit,” said the spokesperson.



jiae5853@korea.kr