The historic coming together between both Koreas, North and South, in recent months was marked by a symbolic gesture when North Korea gave a pair of Pungsan dogs to the South Korean leader Moon Jae-in as “peace gifts” in September.
Recently this month, that gesture of peace has borne fruit, as the female of the pair, Gomi, gave birth to six puppies, three females and three males. The South Korean leader and his wife, Kim Jong-sook, can be seen enjoying the cute canines in the courtyard of their home in an official video tweeted on the Presidential Blue House account on Saturday.
President Moon Jae-in shows off puppies born to dogs gifted by North Korea pic.twitter.com/AQnSeaaqQD
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) November 27, 2018
The pups are “all very healthy,” according to the Blue House office tweet. As a gesture of thanks, South Korea sent a military plane full of tangerines to Pyongyang days after the births.
“As the pregnancy period of dogs is about two months, Gomi must have come to us pregnant,” Moon said, according to the Sky News. “As six were added to the two given as a gift, this is a great fortune. I hope inter-Korean affairs will be like this.”
The two Pungsan sent from the North, Gomi and Songgang, were gifted to South Korea following a recent summit between the estranged nations—the third such this year.
The rare breed of hunting dogs, native to the northern, mountainous regions of North Korea, are known for their loyalty, courage, and cleverness.
The gift echoes a similar gesture back in 2000, after the first inter-Korean summit, when the North sent a pair of Pungsans to the South. In kind, South Korea sent a pair of Jindo dogs, indigenous to the region, as peace gifts.
As to whether the two countries can make headway on denuclearization of the peninsula and a warming of relations to eventual reconciliation, however, that remains something to be seen in the future.
