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North and South Korean Officials Meet at Border to Discuss Summit Meeting North and South Korea Set a Date for Summit Meeting at Border
(about 3 hours later)
SEOUL, South Korea — Senior negotiators from North and South Korea met on their countries’ border on Thursday to prepare for the summit meeting planned for late April between Kim Jong-un, the North’s leader, and President Moon Jae-in of the South. SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea will meet for the first time on April 27, officials said on Thursday, setting a date for talks meant to continue the recent détente on the Korean Peninsula and pave the way for discussions between Mr. Kim and President Trump.
The negotiators at Panmunjom, the so-called truce village that straddles the border, were expected to decide on a date for the meeting, and to discuss the agenda and various details. Early this month Mr. Kim agreed to a meeting with Mr. Moon, part of a flurry of diplomacy around Pyongyang’s nuclear program that began with the North’s participation last month in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Senior negotiators from both Koreas met Thursday at Panmunjom, the so-called truce village on the countries’ border, to agree on a date and discuss other aspects of the summit meeting.
Mr. Kim accepted Mr. Moon’s offer of a meeting early this month, part of a flurry of diplomacy around Pyongyang’s nuclear program that began with the North’s participation last month in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The two Korean leaders will meet at Peace House, a South Korean building inside Panmunjom, according to pool reports by South Korean journalists. Peace House lies south of the demarcation line that bisects Panmunjom, which means that Mr. Kim would become the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South since the Korean War.
Mr. Kim also offered to meet directly with President Trump, after his discussions with Mr. Moon, and Mr. Trump quickly accepted. No date for that meeting has been set. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, the South’s chief delegate to the Panmunjom talks, hinted at progress in including denuclearization in the agenda for the Kim-Moon meeting. But he said the two Koreas might need another round of high-level talks in coming weeks to settle the matter.
South Korean envoys who met with Mr. Kim in Pyongyang early this month said he expressed willingness to negotiate with the United States about normalizing ties and giving up his country’s nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees. Mr. Kim also promised to suspend all nuclear and missile tests while talks were underway, the envoys said. “The South and North agreed on efforts to make the summit successful, sharing its historic significance in denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, settling peace there and improving inter-Korean relations,” Mr. Cho told reporters.
This week, Mr. Kim surprised both South Korea and the United States by making a secret visit to Beijing, his first trip outside North Korea since taking power. He met with President Xi Jinping of China, in a bid to mend frayed ties with the North’s traditional Communist ally before his planned meetings with Mr. Moon and Mr. Trump. The summit meeting will be the third ever held between leaders of the two Koreas. Mr. Kim’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong-il, met with the South Korean presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun in 2000 and 2007, respectively. Both meetings were held in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
South Korean envoys who met with Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang early this month said he had expressed willingness to negotiate with the United States about normalizing ties and giving up his country’s nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees. Mr. Kim also promised to suspend all nuclear and missile tests while talks were underway, the envoys said.
Mr. Kim offered to meet directly with Mr. Trump, who quickly accepted. No date for that meeting has been set, but Mr. Trump said he was willing to meet Mr. Kim by May, after Mr. Moon’s discussions with him.
This week, Mr. Kim surprised both South Korea and the United States by making a secret visit to Beijing, his first trip outside North Korea since taking power. He met with President Xi Jinping of China in a bid to mend frayed ties with the North’s traditional Communist ally before his planned meetings with Mr. Moon and Mr. Trump.
In his discussions with Mr. Xi, Mr. Kim reaffirmed his intention to meet with the two leaders, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency. North Korea has yet to announce either of those planned meetings.
Mr. Trump’s ready acceptance of direct talks with Mr. Kim stunned much of the world. If that meeting indeed takes place — some American officials have expressed doubt that it will — Mr. Trump will be the first sitting American president to meet a North Korean leader. The United States fought against the North during the Korean War and has no diplomatic ties with it.
American officials have been reaching out to the North Koreans in hopes of hearing directly from them about Mr. Kim’s intentions, particularly since South Korean envoys quoted him as saying he was willing to discuss “denuclearizing” his country. Officials hope that Mr. Moon’s meeting with Mr. Kim will provide further clues to Mr. Kim’s strategy and help Washington prepare for Mr. Trump’s meeting with the North Korean leader.