Pyongyang: South Korean President Moon seeks nuclear agreement with Kim
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North's leader Kim Jong-un opened a new round of talks at a summit in Pyongyang today, with North Korean nuclear arsenal high on the agenda. However Seoul (South Korea capital) warned they may not reach an agreement. Moon is on a three-day trip to the North Korean capital for his third summit with Kim this year.
After the high symbolism of the two leaders' first meeting in April in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean peninsula, and Kim's historic summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, pressure is mounting for substantive progress.
In Singapore, Kim declared his backing for denuclearization, but no details were agreed upon. Washington and Pyongyang have since sparred over what that means and how it'll be achieved. Washington is pressing for North's "final, fully verified denuclearization", while Pyongyang wants a formal declaration that 1950-53 Korean War is over and has condemned "gangster-like" demands for it to give up its weapons unilaterally.
About the recent meeting between Moon and Kim, the former's spokesman Yoon Young-chan said, "It's difficult to say at this moment that the two leaders have reached any agreement." However, they had "frank and sincere" discussions, Yoon said, adding, "They still need a lot more talks." "If and when" they reach an agreement, they would announce it jointly but not take questions, he said.
Today's talks took place at the Paekhwawon official guesthouse on the outskirts of Pyongyang. The two leaders were shown on television walking down a long corridor talking together, followed by their wives, before entering a room where the cameras could not follow.
