President Moon Jae-in will be the first South Korean president to stay three consecutive nights at the US government’s VIP guesthouse, according to diplomatic sources.
During his four-day official visit in Washington, starting from Wednesday, Moon will stay at the Blair House, the official guesthouse of his US counterpart Donald Trump.
President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)
The premium guesthouse, located across the White House, is primarily used to host foreign dignitaries.
The first-ever South Korean state chief to use the facility was the late President Park Chung-hee in 1965. Though all his predecessors had also stayed there, Moon will be the first to stay for three nights in a row. Moon and first lady Kim Jung-sook will also be the first presidential couple to attend an official reception dinner hosted by President Trump at the White House.
Since taking office in February, the US president has met with a number of foreign counterparts in Washington. On Monday, he hosted a foreign leader for dinner at the White House for the first time, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended the event by himself.
By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)
