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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un review the honor guard at Pyongyang Sunan International airport during Moon’s welcome ceremony for the inter-Korean summit on Sept. 19. North Korean first lady Ri Sol-ju is seen behind Moon. (photo pool)

North Korea gave a warm welcome to South Korean President Moon Jae-in when he arrived at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport on Sept. 18. North Korean military gave their first gun salute to a South Korean leader, and the head of the honor guard referred to Moon as “Your Excellency Mr. President.”

Both occurrences were unprecedented.

Regarding this point, a senior military official said, “In President Kim Dae-jung’s visit to North Korea in June 2000 and President Roh Moo-hyun’s visit in October 2007, North Korea provided an honor guard ceremony that was appropriate for a head of state, but due to the unique nature of inter-Korean relations they refrained from gun salutes and didn’t refer to the president as ‘Your Excellency,’ as I recall.”

North Korea’s willingness to perform a gun salute and refer to Moon as “Your Excellency Mr. President” can be interpreted as a desire to treat Moon with the highest level of official courtesy.

The honor guard ceremony for Moon’s arrival involved a review by Moon and Kim followed by the guard marching into position to greet both leaders. The review involves a head of state or military leader walking in front of a line of soldiers while being saluted, while the march has the soldiers get into position to greet the leader as a gesture of courtesy and respect.

The leader of the honor guard, Colonel Kim Myong-ho, then said, “Your Excellency Mr. President, the Korean People’s Army honor guard has lined up to welcome you.”

When President Roh visited 11 years ago, the leader of the honor guard said, “The honor guard has lined up to welcome our Comrade Supreme Commander and President Roh Moo-hyun.” The designation “Your Excellency” was omitted.

As Moon and Kim walked along the red carpet prepared for them, the line of around 300 honor guards showed their respect with the command drill, “Present, arms!” After the review, Kim led Moon to the review podium, where both leaders watched silently as the honor guard marched past in salute. There was no such march for Kim Dae-jung in June 2000. North Korea offered the march to Roh Moo-hyun in October 2007 for the first time.

During the honor guard ceremony for Moon on Sept. 18, a total of 21 gun salutes were fired. This is seen as a gesture of respect for Moon as a head of state. The welcome ceremony at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport lasted around five minutes.

For the first summit between Moon and Kim in April, South Korea greeted Kim with a traditional honor guard ceremony involving its army, navy and air force at a plaza in Panmunjom. This was the first time South Korea had never presented such a ceremony to a North Korean leader. Because of the spatial restrictions of the venue and the delicate state of inter-Korean relations, South Korea simplified its ceremony by omitting its flag-raising ceremony, gun salute and national anthem performance.

During the second inter-Korean summit a month later at Panmunjom’s Unification House (Tongilgak), North Korea substituted its traditional honor guard ceremony by having soldiers line up on both sides of Moon and salute him with the “Present, arms!” command drill.

A senior military official commented, “Honor guard ceremonies are meant to be a gesture of respect and courtesy to a visiting head of state, with the format varying according to each country’s customs and the circumstances of the time.”

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

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