Third Moon-Kim summit to take place Sept. 18 to 20 in Pyongyang
Chung Eui-yong [YONHAP]
Chung Eui-yong, the Blue House national security adviser, held a press conference in Seoul after returning from a one-day trip to Pyongyang Wednesday, where he met with Kim and delivered a letter from Moon.
He said the two sides decided to hold high-level negotiations to discuss logistics for the summit early next week in the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom.
They agreed that the purpose of the upcoming summit would be to review the implementation of the April 27 inter-Korean Panmunjom Declaration, as well as to “discuss practical ways to establish permanent peace and co-prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, especially through denuclearization.”
South Korea’s five-member delegation, which included Suh Hoon, the director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), met with Kim Yong-chol, the vice chairman of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, and finalized details of the upcoming inter-Korean summit. They also discussed ongoing denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
Chung said that North Korean leader Kim “reconfirmed his commitment to complete denuclearization,” and expressed his wish to closely cooperate with South Korea and the United States on this issue.
The two sides also pledged to continue to work toward easing military tensions and to open an inter-Korean liaison office ahead of the Moon-Kim summit.
On the issue of a declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice agreement, Chung said, “Our government believes that a declaration to end the war is a political declaration and the first step toward building trust between related country,” a view which is shared by North Korea.
The United States and other related countries will also be briefed on the special envoy’s trip to Pyongyang, he added.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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