GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province — President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday gifted a Go table and lacquerware inlaid with mother-of-pearl to China's President Xi Jinping, who was in the country for the first time in 11 years.
Xi, who arrived on a state visit to South Korea on Thursday, coinciding with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conferences in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, received a 9-centimeter-high, 1,978 square-centimiter-large wooden Go table made of torreya wood, with each side carved with traditional Korean patterns.
The gifts were presented during a welcoming ceremony. Xi entered the grounds of the Gyeongju National Museum by car, along with a procession of Chuitadae, or Korean traditional royal marching band, and was received by Lee for their first-ever summit.
Lee's office said Saturday that the gift symbolizes South Korea's hope to get along well with China, as players from both countries together lead the professional Go scene. South Korea's 6 Brothers manufactured the Go table, according to the presidential office, adding that both Lee and Xi are Go fans.
The presidential office said Xi was also given a lacquered plate with a diameter of 30 centimeters with mother-of-pearl inlay, made using a traditional handcraft method that has continued for more than 1,000 years. Seoul-based Joong-Ang Craft Gift Shop manufactured the lacquerware, according to Lee's office.
The gifts come after Lee's gift to US President Donald Trump on Wednesday drew viral attention. Along with the highest state honor, Trump received a replica of the a traditional gold crown excavated from a tomb during the Silla kingdom named Cheonmachong.
On the first day of the two-day APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting on Friday — which Trump chose not to attend — Xi told Lee in their first official encounter that he enjoyed the red bean paste-stuffed pastry made in Gyeongju that Lee had given him, the South Korean presidential office said.
The state dinner hosted by Lee featured a chicken porridge, fried chicken nugget with Korean-style spicy sauce, stir-fried abalone with Chinese-style mala sauce, Korean-style beef patties called tteokgalbi, as well as desserts including Korean ribbon-shaped confections and Chinese fried sesame balls.
The dinner was also accompanied by a stage performance. Traditional instruments from both South Korea and China — a hammered dulcimer called yaggeum, and a 12-string gayageum from Korea, and a Chinese two-stringed vertical fiddle called erhu — were played in an ensemble, while Gyeongju's junior choir performed the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower."
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