North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s "multicultural accent" became one of the highlights of the inter-Korean summit for South Korean viewers watching the event live, South China Morning Post reports.
While the differences in dialects used by North and South Koreans have long being considered a major cultural barrier between the two countries, the viewers were genuinely surprised by Kim’s "Swiss-influenced accent."
And it is amazing to listen to KJU's North Korean accent in his casual voice. Not so accurate and sounded like he has a bit of accent from Switzerland in his Korean too.
— Minjeong Ko (@Minjeong_KoKo) 27 апреля 2018 г.
Lots of people asked how different North Korean accent is to the South Korean one. Having heard Kim Jong Un speak, I'd say it's about the same distance between standard American English and the Minnesota English.
— T.K. of AAK! (@AskAKorean) 27 апреля 2018 г.
Kim Jong Un probably spends more time watching South Korean TV than anyone. Jeju residents learned the foreign language that was standard S Korean the same way.
— the oranckay (@oranckay) 27 апреля 2018 г.
"To my ears, Kim Jong Un doesn't have much of a northern accent. He wouldn't sound that out of place in the middle of Seoul." via Bloomberg's
— Keith Zhai (@QiZHAI) 27 апреля 2018 г.
Breaking News Asia Managing Editor Kyung Bok Cho
According to the newspaper, Kim likely acquired his accent while studying at a German-language boarding school in Switzerland during his teenage years.
Some members of the audience took note of Kim Jong-un’s cadence as well.
"His voice sounds mature and conservative, like that of a much older man. Everyone thought he would sound like a little boy, but he was well-spoken, especially when he made the joke about bringing [North Korean] naengmyun [a traditional cold noodle dish] to South Korea. We were all surprised," a South Korean viewer cited by the newspaper said.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in met on April 27 during a joint summit devoted to resolving the issues between the two countries.
At the end of the summit the sides signed a declaration, confirming they strive for the de-nuclearization of the peninsula and the unification of the two states.
