Indonesia’s Jokowi Has Invited Moon Jae-in, Kim Jong Un to Asian Games

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reportedly invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to the Asian Games, which will be hosted by Indonesia in August, Asian Correspondent reported.

A South Korean official told JoongAng Ilbo this week that when back in April Jokowi offered to host the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim in Indonesia, he also invited Kim and Moon to attend the Asian Games.

The invitation occurred during a meeting between the Indonesian president and the North and South’s respective ambassadors in Jakarta.

“As far as I understand it, President Widodo invited President Moon and North Korean leader Kim to visit his country during the Asian Games at the meeting,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying.

The Trump-Kim Summit was eventually held in Singapore.

It is not the first time Jokowi has sought to play peacemaker. In March, Jokowi hosted a conference of 45 Islamic scholars from Afghanistan and Pakistan to discuss peace and development in the troubled South Asian nations.

According to JoongAng Ilbo, Moon is considering a visit to the Asian Games, while it is as yet unknown whether Kim will attend. If they meet during the event it would be the first inter-Korean summit held outside of the peninsula.

Sport was the catalyst for diplomacy at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea earlier this year, with the two Koreas marching into the opening ceremony under a unified flag and and entering a joint women’s ice hockey team.

The Asian Games will be held in the capital Jakarta and the city of Palembang in South Sumatra between 18 August and 2 September, 2018.

The South Korean president visited Indonesia last November, during which he unveiled Seoul’s “New Southern Policy” focused on strengthening connections with Southeast Asia. (T//RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)