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Kimchi tops cheese at nuclear summit

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. President Barack Obama, seventh from left, and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, eighth from left, pose with other leaders during a group photo session for the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

SEOUL, South Korea >> How do you say "cheese" in Korean? As world leaders at a summit in Seoul learned, it’s "kimchi" if you’re in front of a photographer.

When President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao and other dignitaries posed for a group photo during the Nuclear Security Summit, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak turned to face his colleagues and gestured for big smiles.

One leader, whom organizers couldn’t identify, responded by calling out "kimchi," apparently aware that the word for the spicy fermented cabbage dish is South Korea’s version of saying "cheese" to draw a smile during photographs.

"Yes, that’s kimchi in Korea," moderator Theresa Rah told the leaders through a microphone, prompting a brief bout of laughter.

She added that kimchi would be on the menu for the leaders’ dinner.

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