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The moment when the inter-Korean summit went off script and tensions surfaced

The leaders of North and South Korea were all smiles for their historic meeting, but not everything went according to the script

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas on Friday. Photo: Reuters

The historic meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea was orchestrated as a show of unity, a carefully choreographed interaction designed to pave the way for talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

South Korea held rehearsals before the summit, making sure the interactions between the two leaders went smoothly.

But there were still moments where the players went off script and, in one case, revealed underlying tensions between two countries that are technically still at war.

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The greetings began with South Korean President Moon Jae-in welcoming North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the southern side of the concrete military demarcation line at Panmunjom that has divided the two Koreas since an armistice agreement in 1953. 

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The two shook hands and posed for photographs before Kim extended a surprise invitation to Moon to cross over into the northern side of the demarcation line.

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