Moon, Kim to meet Sept. 18

South Korean presidential envoy Chung Eui-yong gives a briefing Thursday about his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang on Wednesday. Yonhap

By Ko Dong-hwan

South and North Korea have agreed to hold their next inter-Korean summit on Sept. 18-20 in Pyongyang.

President Moon Jae-in's National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong made the announcement Thursday after a South Korean delegation met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

He said Kim had renewed his commitment to making the Korean Peninsula nuclear weapons-free at the meeting.

Chung, Director of the National Intelligence Service Suh Hoon and three other members of the delegation returned late Wednesday after a 12-hour stay in Pyongyang. They delivered a letter from President Moon to Kim. The North also hosted a dinner reception for the delegation.

Moon and Kim have held two meetings, with the seminal April meeting leading to the historic summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore two months later.

The North's state-run media said Thursday that Kim renewed his commitment to making the Korean Peninsula nuclear weapons-free at his meeting with the South Korean delegation.

Kim also discussed "candidly" issues related to improving relations between the two Koreas and ensuring lasting peace and stability on the peninsula, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Thursday.

The two Koreas agreed, according to Chung, to hold the third summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sept. 18-20. Yonhap

"Noting that it is our fixed stand and his will to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean Peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat, he said that the North and the South should further their efforts to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," the KCNA said.

"He also talked with the delegation candidly over many issues arising in accelerating the development of North-South relations and preserving peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula."

The KCNA said Kim and the South Korean officials exchanged views on the schedule for what will be the third summit between Kim and Moon.

The two Koreas earlier agreed to hold the third summit in Pyongyang in September but did not finalize a date, following meetings in April and May.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un exchange greetings over the Military Demarcation Line at Panmunjeom in their first summit in April 2018. Korea Times file

"After reading the personal letter, the Supreme Leader expressed his thanks to the President for sending the good personal letter which expressed a firm will to wisely overcome many challenges in the future, too, and open a bright future for our nation while appreciating the fresh advance in the relations between the North and the South," the KCNA said.

It said Kim was "pleased" with the diverse cross-border contacts and projects, including recent reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, military talks and ongoing efforts to open a joint liaison office, calling them "successes" in inter-Korean relations.

"We should value all these successes which the North and the South made hand-in-hand and keep advancing without deviation the North-South ties that have definitely entered the new orbit of peace, the orbit of reconciliation and cooperation," the report said.

The delegation's trip to the North came amid growing concerns over a stalemate in denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a planned North Korea trip by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month, citing a lack of progress in nuclear talks.

The stalled negotiations have apparently taken a toll on Seoul's efforts to advance inter-Korean relations on various fronts, as Washington remains firm on maintaining sanctions until the North takes substantive steps to abandon its nuclear weapons. The North has complained about slower-than-expected progress in inter-Korean relations.