(Eagle News) –“The man of the hour.”
This was how President Rodrigo Duterte described North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, following the historic announcement the two Koreas would end the Korean war that ended only in an armistice between the two governments’ military forces in 1953.
According to Duterte, “with one master stroke, Kim became the hero of everybody.”
“To me the man of the hour would be (Kim). Marunong siya tumiming..Heroism is sometimes left to chance or purposely timed,” he said.
He said while reports pictured the North Korean leader as a “bad boy,” he turned out to be “amiable, a joyful fellow and very accommodating.”
“I hope he remains that way because nobody is after him,” Duterte said.
He noted that Kim had become his “idol,” and that someday if he gets to meet him, he would congratulate him.
“Sabihin ko sa kaniya bilib ako sa kanya…Ituring nalang niya akong isang kaibigan,” he said.
“The impact now is there is really less stress now in the Korean peninsula and maybe, just maybe, we can avoid a war which nobody wants,” he added.
During the historic Inter-Korea Summit, the leaders of North and South Korea committed to a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and vowed to formally end the Korean war, with the signing of the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification on the Korean Peninsula that jump-starts talks.
During the event, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his North Korean counterpart were seen embracing, talking alone for thirty minutes, a deviation from the less jovial meeting between the leaders of the two countries in 10 years.