[Published: Wednesday September 05 2018]
 South Korean envoys meet Kim Jong Un for third summit
SEOUL 5 Sep (ANA) - South Korea said its envoys met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Wednesday to prepare for a third inter-Korean summit later this month, with hopes of putting momentum back into stalled talks between the North and the United States on denuclearisation.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s special envoys were led by the national security chief at the presidential Blue House, Chung Eui-yong, and the delegation included director of the National Intelligence Service, Suh Hoon.
The envoys held talks with Kim and delivered Moon’s letter, and had dinner with unspecified North Korean officials, according to Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.
“The envoys would return after the dinner,” the spokesman said in a statement, adding further details will be announced on Thursday.
The 11-member delegation was greeted in Pyongyang by Ri Son Gwon, chairman of a North Korean committee in charge of cross-border affairs, who has steered high-level inter-Korean talks, according to Moon’s press secretary Yoon Young-chan.
They held a 20-minute meeting with Ri and Kim Yong Chol, who played a key role with Pompeo in arranging the Singapore summit, Yoon said without elaborating.
The United States and North Korea are at odds over whether denuclearisation or a step towards the normalisation of bilateral relations by declaring the end of the 1950-53 Korean War should come first.
The war was ended by an armistice, not a peace treaty, meaning U.S.-led United Nations forces, including South Korea, are technically still at war with the North.
Chung said on Tuesday he wanted to discuss with Pyongyang officials ways to achieve the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
Seoul would also continue to push for a joint declaration with the United States of an end to the Korean war this year, Chung said.(ANA)
FA/ANA/5 September 2018--------
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