N. Korea's media report on agreement to hold inter-Korean summit

Published : Aug 14, 2018 - 09:39 Updated : Aug 14, 2018 - 09:39

North Korea's state media reported Tuesday on high-level talks held with South Korea a day earlier in which the two Koreas agreed to hold a summit in Pyongyang next month.

The meeting was held on the northern side of the truce village of Panmunjom that separates the two Koreas. South Korea's delegation was led by the Cho Myoung-gyon and his North Korean counterpart was Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country.

(Yonhap)

"At the talks both sides reviewed the efforts for implementing the Panmunjom Declaration and sincerely discussed the issues of more positively implementing it," the Korean Central News Agency said in an English article, referring to the agreement their leaders reached in a meeting in April.

"And they agreed to hold the north-south summit meeting and talks in Pyongyang within September," it added.

They, however, stopped short of announcing a date for the meeting. It is speculated that the summit would take place in mid- or late September.

If held, it would mark the third of its kind between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, following one in April and another in May. And it would also represent the first time in more than a decade for a South Korea president to visit Pyongyang for a summit.

Following the April talks the two leaders adopted the Panmunjom Declaration in which they agreed to work toward "complete" denuclearization, halt hostile acts against each other and expand cross-border exchanges.

Experts say that the third Moon-Kim meeting could serve as a catalyst for the apparently stalled denuclearization talks between the North and the United States since their leaders' historic summit in Singapore in June. (Yonhap)