SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted a dinner with South Korean envoys in Pyongyang on Monday — the first such meeting since he took power in 2011.
A spokesperson for the South Korean president’s office said the dinner lasted more than four hours. Seoul’s delegation met Kim Jong Un and his sister, Kim Yo Jong, as well as Kim’s wife Ri Sol Ju and other North Korean officials, according to the spokesperson.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un greets a member of the special delegation of South Korea's President at a dinner in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 6, 2018.KCNA / Reuters
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The delegation of 10 officials from Seoul is led by South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s chief of national security, Chung Eui-yong. He is joined by Suh Hoon, the director of the National Intelligence Service.
They’ll return to Seoul Tuesday afternoon after a follow-up meeting in Pyongyang before heading to Washington to debrief U.S. officials on their talks.
Before flying to Pyongyang Monday, Chung said officials from both sides would discuss restarting dialogue between the neighbors as well as between Pyongyang and Washington.
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North Korea’s state media, KCNA, reported Tuesday morning that Kim Jong Un made a satisfactory agreement after hearing Pres. Moon Jae In’s hopes for a North-South summit. The report didn’t elaborate on what kind of agreement.
The southern delegation’s visit comes after Pyongyang sent two groups of officials to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics last month.
Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, become the first member of the ruling Kim family to visit the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953. She sat one row behind Vice President Mike Pence during the Olympic opening ceremony, but they didn’t speak.
The Meeting Of North And South Korea, News, La Trobe University
Vice President Mike Pence, bottom, watches the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics on Feb. 9. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is seated behind him.Patrick Semansky / AP
The White House has suggested that it’s ready to talk with North Korea. Pyongyang responded over the weekend by saying that it’s interested in discussing issues of “mutual concern” with the U.S. but added that preconditions are a nonstarter.
Before leaving for Pyongyang, Chung said he will relay to North Korea Moon's hopes for North Korean nuclear disarmament and a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.
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Moon is pushing for a summit during his first year in office, but the current thaw spurred on by his self-proclaimed “Peace Olympics” could be shortlived. South Korea and the U.S. still plan to hold annual military drills, which they had agreed to delay during the Olympics.
In the past, North Korea has responded angrily to the joint drills, which it claims are preparations for an invasion. Another missile or nuclear test by Kim's regime could quickly derail the current talks and Moon's hopes for a summit.
Duyeon Kim, a visiting senior research fellow at the Korean Peninsula Future Forum, said there’s a very small window for the South to broker Washington-Pyongyang talks, assuming it's possible for that to happen at all.
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She added that America's support was fundamental before the Koreas' two past summit talks, one in 2000 and the other in 2007.
North Korea has said in public statements that it wants an official end to the Korean War. The conflict was halted by a 1953 armistice, but no peace treaty has been signed. It also wants nothing short of full normalization of relations with the U.S. and to be treated with respect and as an equal in the global arena.
South Korean national security director, Chung Eui-yong, third from left, meets with North Korean vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, Kim Yong Chol, second from right, in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Monday.Yonhap / APGOYANG, South Korea -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walked across the border Friday and met South Korean President Moon Jae-in. It's the first time a member of the Kim dynasty has set foot on southern soil since the end of the Korean War in 1953 and the latest bid to settle the world's last Cold War standoff.
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Kim's news agency said earlier Friday that the leader would open-heartedly discuss with Moon all the issues arising in improving inter-Korean relations.
Moon's senior spokesman said Kim joked to he would make sure not to interrupt Moon's sleep anymore, apparently referring to the North's series of early morning missile tests last year.
Moon's spokesman says Kim also made a reference to a South Korean island that became a target of a North Korean artillery attack that killed four in 2010. Kim says the residents of Yeonpyeong Island who have been living under the fear of North Korean artillery attacks and also families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War have high hopes for the inter-Korean talks to help heal past scars.
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As of noon local time, Kim and Moon had finished the finished the morning session of their summit at a border truce village.
Television showed bodyguards jogging beside Kim's black limousine as it rolled back to the northern side of the Pamunjom where Kim and other North Korean officials participating in the summit are expected to have lunch.
Moon's spokesman Yoon Young-chan says Kim mentioned the defectors among people who have high expectations for the summit to heal scars and improve relations between the rivals.
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Yoon quoted Kim as saying: We should value this opportunity so that the scars between the South and North could be healed.
Yoon says Kim added: The border line isn't that high; it will eventually be erased if a lot of people pass over it.
The North in 2016 accused the South of abducting 12 North Korean women who had worked at restaurant in China and demanded them to be sent back to the North. That was months before the North called a senior North Korean diplomat who defected to the South as human scum.
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Seoul also said Kim described the country's transport conditions as poor as he and Moon discussed Moon's potential visit to the North.
Moon' spokesman Yoon Young-chan says Kim's comments came after Moon expressed a desire to travel across North Korea to visit Mount Paektu that touches the country's border with China.
According to Yoon, Kim in response said such a trip might be currently uncomfortable for Moon because the country's transport system was deficient. Yoon says Kim also said North Korean delegates who visited the South during February's Winter Olympics also came back impressed with South Korea's bullet train service.
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Yoon says Moon in response said North Koreans would also be able to enjoy the South's high-speed trains if the rivals improve relations and reconnect their rail networks across the border.
The leaders plan to meet again in the afternoon at the southern side of the village for talks Seoul says are aimed at resolving the standoff over the North's nuclear weapons.
The White House issued a statement after the meeting saying we are hopeful that talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace.
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We wish the Korean people well. We are hopeful that talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula, the statement read. The United States appreciates the close coordination with our ally, the Republic of Korea, and looks forward to continuing robust discussions in preparation for the planned meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pose for a photo in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, South Korea, on Fri. April 27, 2018. Reuters
It's certainly incredibly significant to see these two men meeting with expectations of peace being so high, Fish said. I think a lot of people have talked about the shift of where we are today and where we were several months ago. It's important to remember that even though the two leaders are smiling and posing with children ... it's very possible in a few months from now, tensions will go back to where they were.
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It's hard to know how much credit to give to Trump's sanctions and his 'maximum pressure' policy and how much credit to give to Kim Jong Un -- the North Korean dictator feeling secure at home, feeling that he's consolidated enough power domestically, feeling that he now has enough of a nuclear weapons arsenal that he can negotiate -- if not from a position of strength -- a position that he's comfortable he'll be able to stay in power, Fish added.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend a welcoming ceremony in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, South Korea, on Fri., April 27, 2018. Reuters
With a single step over a weathered, cracked slab of concrete, Kim made the historic trip Friday by crossing over the world's most heavily armed border to greet his rival Moon for talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons. Kim then invited Moon to
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