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Swiss rosti-inspired dish could be a good Korea move at summit

The choice is a nod to where Kim Jong Un spent his schooldays while delicacies from north and south will also be consumed.

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The venue for Friday’s summit meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea (AP)

A Korean “re-interpretation” of a Swiss fried potato rosti dish could be an icebreaker during Friday’s summit meeting, with delicacies from both sides of the Korean border also on the menu.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un went to school in Switzerland and will dine with South Korean President Moon Jae-in after a meeting over weighty subjects including the North’s nuclear weapons.

The planned banquet will take place after Friday’s summit at the border truce village of Panmunjom.

Other items on the menu include fish and rice using produce from the hometowns of Mr Moon and his liberal predecessors who sought rapprochement with Pyongyang.

North Korea will bring its famous cold noodles to the dinner.

The meeting between Mr Kim and Mr Moon is just the third-ever summit between the rival Koreas, who are now trying to restore ties after a decade of animosity over the North’s nuclear and missile programme.

The two countries remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The food to be served at Panmunjom includes:

– Mr Kim spent several years in his teens being schooled in Switzerland.

That means a lot of Swiss-inspired dishes for Mr Kim at the banquet.

The rosti-inspired dish is a nod to Kim Jong Un's schooldays in Switzerland (AP)
The rosti-inspired dish is a nod to Kim Jong Un’s schooldays in Switzerland (AP)

– Also for dessert will be a mango mousse decorated with a blue map symbolising a unified Korean Peninsula.

The map will include a dot representing a small island off the peninsula’s eastern coast that has been the subject of a territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan.

A mango mousse decorated by a blue flag symbolising a unified Korean Peninsula (AP)
A mango mousse decorated by a blue flag symbolising a unified Korean Peninsula (AP)

Mr Kim, 34, did display a European palate last month in a Pyongyang banquet he hosted for Mr Moon’s envoys, who were served wine paired with different kinds of cheese.

After setting up the summit between Mr Kim and Mr Moon, South Korean officials in a subsequent trip to Washington brokered a potential meeting between Mr Kim and President Donald Trump, which is anticipated in May or June.

– South Korean meat and fish

South Korean chefs at the banquet will also serve baked John Dory fish, a tribute to the South Korean port of Busan, where the 65-year-old Mr Moon was born.

Other items on the menu include nods to the birth towns of former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who met with Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, in the two previous inter-Korean summits in the 2000s.

The chefs will serve croaker caught from Kim Dae-jung’s hometown in southwestern Gageo island and rice from Mr Roh’s southern hometown of Gimhae.

A dish of grilled beef using cattle from a ranch in Seosan, central South Korea is on the summit menu (AP)
A dish of grilled beef using cattle from a ranch in Seosan, central South Korea is on the summit menu (AP)

The ranch became famous in 1998 when late Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung sent 1,001 cattle from the ranch in two separate convoy across the border to the North in an effort to aid reconciliation between the rivals.

“The welcoming banquet will reflect the desire of people who attempted to achieve peace and unification of our nation,” Mr Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said.

Tea and desserts made from citrus from South Korea’s Jeju Island are planned for the banquet (AP)
Tea and desserts made from citrus from South Korea’s Jeju Island are planned for the banquet (AP)

– North Korean noodles

Seoul’s presidential Blue House said North Korea has also agreed to bring to the dinner “naengmyeon”, or cold buckwheat noodles, made by the head chef of Pyongyang’s famous Okryugwan restaurant.

Mr Moon’s office said Mr Moon proposed the restaurant’s noodles to be included on the menu, to which the North “gladly” obliged.

Okryugwan is arguably North Korea’s best-known restaurant and has branches in China.

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