North and South Korean leaders have agreed to meet next
month at the truce village of Panmunjom, on the North-South line 40
miles north of Seoul, for the third inter-Korean summit, a top South
Korean official has announced.
The sudden announcement of talks between North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in marks a dramatic potential step towards inter-Korean harmony – and a dividend of moves towards peace initiated at last month’s Winter Olympics in the South Korean mountain district of Pyeongchang.
Chung Eui-yong, Mr Moon’s national security adviser, announced the summit at a briefing at which he had been expected only to report on his visit to Pyongyang on Monday, when he and other members of his delegation were hosted to dinner by Mr Kim.
Mr Kim was said to have described that conversation as “open-hearted”, but there was no hint that the two sides would agree right away to a summit. He had invited Mr Moon to the summit three weeks ago in a letter that his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, personally delivered after attending the PyeongChang opening ceremonies.
Mr Moon at the time said agreeing to a summit depended on “the right conditions”. Clearly Mr Kim came through with acceptable responses.
On the streets of Seoul, Koreans responded with feelings ranging from exhilaration to scepticism. “This is great,” said Kim Han-jin, a young businessman. “We should keep talking until the North is denuclearised.” Another person, who did not want her name used, said: “The US should cooperate instead of making threats against North Korea.” Korean conservatives, however, took quite a different view. “President Moon is falling for Kim Jong-un’s double talk,” said a middle-aged man. “He won’t give up anything. He wants to weaken our defences.”
First and foremost, said Mr Chung, Mr Kim agreed “the denuclearisation issue may be discussed as an agenda for the North-US dialogue” – an understanding that marked a clear departure from North Korea’s previous refusal to discuss the nuclear issue at all.
Indeed, said Mr Chung, Mr Kim “has clearly stated that the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula was an instruction of his predecessor” – that is, his father, Kim Jong-il. Mr Kim, said Mr Chung, said “there has been no change to such an instruction”.
The sudden announcement of talks between North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in marks a dramatic potential step towards inter-Korean harmony – and a dividend of moves towards peace initiated at last month’s Winter Olympics in the South Korean mountain district of Pyeongchang.
Chung Eui-yong, Mr Moon’s national security adviser, announced the summit at a briefing at which he had been expected only to report on his visit to Pyongyang on Monday, when he and other members of his delegation were hosted to dinner by Mr Kim.
Mr Kim was said to have described that conversation as “open-hearted”, but there was no hint that the two sides would agree right away to a summit. He had invited Mr Moon to the summit three weeks ago in a letter that his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, personally delivered after attending the PyeongChang opening ceremonies.
Mr Moon at the time said agreeing to a summit depended on “the right conditions”. Clearly Mr Kim came through with acceptable responses.
On the streets of Seoul, Koreans responded with feelings ranging from exhilaration to scepticism. “This is great,” said Kim Han-jin, a young businessman. “We should keep talking until the North is denuclearised.” Another person, who did not want her name used, said: “The US should cooperate instead of making threats against North Korea.” Korean conservatives, however, took quite a different view. “President Moon is falling for Kim Jong-un’s double talk,” said a middle-aged man. “He won’t give up anything. He wants to weaken our defences.”
First and foremost, said Mr Chung, Mr Kim agreed “the denuclearisation issue may be discussed as an agenda for the North-US dialogue” – an understanding that marked a clear departure from North Korea’s previous refusal to discuss the nuclear issue at all.
Indeed, said Mr Chung, Mr Kim “has clearly stated that the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula was an instruction of his predecessor” – that is, his father, Kim Jong-il. Mr Kim, said Mr Chung, said “there has been no change to such an instruction”.
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