South Korea gifts Xi a Go board made from prized wood, after crown for Trump

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GYEONGJU, South Korea (Reuters) -South Korea’s new president presented Chinese leader Xi Jinping with “the finest” wooden board for ancient strategy game Go during a state visit on Saturday, days after he gave U.S. President Donald Trump a gold crown at a summit meeting.

Gifts for visiting leaders are a key part of international diplomacy, but fraught with difficulties, particularly when such fresh comparisons can be made between offerings to the world’s two most powerful people – who are also fierce rivals.

Xi sat down for his first summit with recently-elected Lee Jae Myung on the last day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the historic South Korean city of Gyeongju.

Lee has vowed to improve ties with China, South Korea’s biggest trading partner, and the talks came after a period marked at times by strained relations between the countries.

SOUTH KOREA SEEKS TO IMPROVE RELATIONS

The Go board was made from the prized wood of Torreya nucifera, a tree native to South Korea’s Jeju Island, Lee’s office said.

Both leaders enjoy playing the game and when Xi last visited South Korea 11 years ago, he was given Go playing stones, it said to explain the thinking behind the gift.

Some mass-market Go boards made from the same wood are for sale online for nearly 5 million won ($3,517).

Lee also gave Xi a traditional Korean mother-of-pearl inlay lacquered tray to symbolise hopes for continued friendly South Korea-China relations, Lee’s office said.

A state dinner after the summit will include dumplings enjoyed in both countries, as well as a South Korean dish of sweet-and-spicy fried chicken popular among Chinese visitors, and abalone with Mala sauce, a Sichuan sauce popular among South Koreans.

Xi’s favoured high-end Chinese liquor Mengzhilan baijiu will also be served, Lee’s office said.

Lee met Trump earlier this week ahead of the APEC leaders’ meeting.

In recognition of Trump’s role as a “peacemaker” on the Korean peninsula, he was awarded the “Grand Order of Mugunghwa”, South Korea’s highest decoration, Lee’s office said.

Trump was also given a replica crown featuring towering gold prongs and dangling leaf shapes. The original was found in a tomb in Gyeongju, capital of the ancient Silla kingdom, which ruled about a third of the Korean peninsula until the 9th century.

($1 = 1,421.4800 won)

(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Ed Davies. Editing by Mark Potter)