Kim Jong-un meets Seoul's special envoys on first day of visit

President Moon Jae-in’s special envoys to North Korea on Monday met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, feeding speculations about possible dialogue with the US.

According to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom, the South Korean delegation was received by Kim at a dinner reception that began at 6 p.m., South Korea time. North Korean time is 30 minutes behind. 

Kim Eui-kyeom said that the delegation, led by National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong, arrived at a Pyongyang airport at 2:50 p.m. and was met by Ri Son-gwon, chairman of North Korea’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification, at the airport. 

The five-member envoy delegation then met with Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party Kim Yong-chol at their accommodation, where they hammered out their itinerary including the dinner meeting with Kim Jong-un. Following the special envoys’ departure, local media had speculated about the timing of their meeting with the North Korean leader.

Ahead of his departure, Chung said that he intends to convey Moon’s will for denuclearization and seek ways to discuss denuclearization.

“I will clearly deliver President Moon’s intent to maintain the flow of inter-Korean dialogue and improving relations to obtain permanent peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Chung, who leads the delegation as the chief special envoy, said earlier in the day.

The envoys left from the Seoul Airport, south of Seoul, at 2 p.m. aboard a South Korean Air Force passenger carrier. 

Along with Chung, National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon, Vice Minister of Unification Chun Hae-sung, senior National Intelligence Service Director Kim Sang-gyun, and Yun Kun-young, a Cheong Wa Dae official have been sent as special envoys. The envoys were also accompanied by five working-level officials.

“To this end, (the special envoys) plan to discuss ways to continue inter-Korean talks, as well as dialogue between the North and the US, and the international society,” Chung said.

Chung’s comments regarding the US fall in line with earlier comments from a high-level Cheong Wa Dae official who described Seoul’s role in the matter as “matchmaking” between Pyongyang and Washington.

Chung said that his visit is in response to the North Korean special envoy’s visit to the South last month. The North Korean leader had included his sister Kim Yo-jong as his special envoy in the high-level delegation to the PyeongChang Olympics opening ceremony. During her visit, the younger Kim invited Moon to Pyongyang.

This is the seventh time special envoys have been sent to the North since the 1950-53 Korean War, and the first time Seoul has made the news public. Cheong Wa Dae first revealed Moon’s plans to send envoys after his telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, and the envoys were named Sunday.

In revealing the envoys, Cheong Wa Dae also said that the envoys will visit the US soon after their return from Pyongyang to brief US officials on the results.

In addition to briefing US officials, Seoul is seeking means to cooperate with China and Japan on related matters.

A high-level Cheong Wa Dae official said that Chinese and Japanese governments will be informed about the results of the North Korean and US visits through “appropriate means.”

The first of the previous six envoys, all sent in secret, was sent in 1972 under the Park Chung-hee administration. Both the Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo administrations that followed sent special envoys but failed to arrange an inter-Korean summit. In 2000, Rep. Park Jie-won, now of the minor opposition Party for Democracy and Peace, was tasked with negotiating an inter-Korean summit. Park was then serving as the culture minister under the Kim Dae-jung administration.

The Roh Moo-hyun administration sent two special envoys -- in 2005 and 2007. The first was to bring North Korea back to the six-party talks on denuclearization, and the second was to arrange the second inter-Korean summit.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)