Seoul: Neighbors to meet to prepare for summit
SEOUL - The Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will meet on Monday at the border village of Panmunjom for highlevel talks meant to prepare for a new summit between ROK President Moon Jae-in and DPRK's top leader Kim Jongun, Seoul said on Thursday.
The summit would be the third between the leaders in recent months.
The announcement by an official of the ROK's Unification Ministry, came amid attempts by Washington and Pyongyang to follow through on nuclear disarmament vows made at a Singapore summit in June between US President Donald Trump and Kim.
Pyongyang has also stepped up its calls for a formal end to the Korean War (1950-53), which some analysts believe is meant to be the first step in Pyongyang's effort to eventually see all 28,500 US troops leave the Korean Peninsula.
The ROK official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules, said the two neighbors will also discuss ways to push through tension-reducing agreements made during an earlier summit between Kim and Moon.
The ROK delegation will be led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon.
It wasn't clear when the summit might take place, but local media speculated that it might be held as early as late August or early September.
Earlier on Thursday, the DPRK's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary that ending the Korean War is "the first process for ensuring peace and security not only in the Korean Peninsula but also in the region and the world".
The peninsula is still technically in a state of war because the conflict ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
Kim and Moon met in April, at a summit that saw them hold hands and walk together across the border, and then again in a more informal summit in May.
Reuters - Xinhua
(China Daily 08/10/2018 page12)
