After almost seven years of meetings, linguists from South and North became ddak–chingu (best friends). They would mix informal and honorific speech – a rarity among Korean speakers – and sometimes kick each other playfully.

After particularly exhausting meetings, they would play the “train game” with the North Korean song “See You Again” playing in the background: more than 70 linguistic experts playing, following each other shoulder to shoulder.

After saying goodbye, the linguists from North, evidently overcome with emotion, would not maintain eye contact with their counterparts from South, just waving and leaving. Their next