SEOUL (KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The South Korean fad of making "finger hearts" has crossed the border to the North, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un himself trying the gesture while posing for photos on top of Mount Baekdu.

The gesture entails crisscrossing the thumb and index finger into a heart shape.

According to South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae's spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom, Mr Kim Jong Un tried the gesture while posing for photographs with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Mount Baekdu, in front of the crater lake Chonji, or Heaven Lake.

"How do you do it? I can't quite make the shape," Mr Kim Jong Un said.

According to reports, he eventually succeeded in making the gesture. His wife, Ri Sol Ju, stood next to him with her hands supporting his finger heart.

Both the leaders and their wives took a flight from Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang to Samjiyon Airport near the mountain. From there, they rode a bus to a stop halfway up the mountain and switched to track vehicles to reach the peak. On the way back down the two couples rode in a four-seater cable car.