by admin | May 25, 2021 | Events, Social Round-up, World
Seoul : Officials from South and North Korea on Monday began a new working-level meeting to finalise the protocol and security measures regarding the historic summit between its leaders scheduled to take place on Friday.
The meeting is being held in the Tongilgak Pavilion, on the northern side of the militarised inter-Korean border, according to the South Korean presidential office.
It is the third such meeting between the representatives of the two countries, since the inter-Korean summit was announced in early March, reports Efe news.
The officials are expected to discuss details of the Friday summit such as the exact time of the meeting between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in.
Also on the agenda is how Kim will access the summit venue – Peace House – the pavilion on the southern side of the border, a detail of historic importance given that it will technically be the first time a North Korean supreme leader will enter the South.
Monday’s working-level meeting comes after Pyongyang announced over the weekend that it would stop conducting nuclear tests and intercontinental missile launches, marking a significant step ahead of the Kim-Moon summit set to focus on North Korea’s possible denuclearization.
The summit will be the first among Korean leaders in 11 years and the third in history, after the ones held between the late leader and Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, and the South Korean presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun in 2000 and 2007, respectively.
Another meeting is planned in May between Kim and the US President Donald Trump, which would be the first ever meeting between the sitting heads of the two countries.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : The White House has denied any direct talks yet between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, though Washington has spoken to Pyongyang “at the highest levels”.
The White House statement on Tuesday came minutes after Trump seemingly hinted that he has already spoken with Kim, Xinhua news agency reported.
When asked by reporters if he had spoken directly with Kim, Trump had said “yes”.
In the statement, issued after the confusing incident, the White House said, “In regards to talks with leader Kim Jong-un, the President said the administration has had talks at the highest levels” and added that they were not with him directly.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump himself also said that Washington and Pyongyang have already started direct talks at “very high levels,” without specifying how “high” the level was.
“We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels with North Korea,” Trump said. He might have hinted at CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s reportedly top-secret visit to North Korea over Easter weekend as his envoy.
The trip made by Pompeo was an effort to lay the groundwork for direct talks between the leaders of the two countries. No official confirmation of Pompeo’s visit has come yet.
Trump was expected to meet Kim in May or early June. The venue of the meeting was still to be decided. Trump said that five sites were being weighed and none of them were located in the US.
Tension on the Korean Peninsula has thawed over the last few months. The South and North have agreed to hold an inter-Korean summit on April 27, the first meeting between the leaders of the two sides in 11 years.
“They do have my blessing to discuss the end of the war,” said Trump on Tuesday, referring to the summit.
The 1950-1953 Korean war ended in an armistice. The Korean Peninsula remains technically in a state of war.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Events, Social Round-up, World
Seoul : North Korea requested a one-day postponement to the working-level meeting with South Korea, initially planned to be held on Wednesday to discuss details of an inter-Korean leader summit in late April, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.
The meeting has been postponed to Thursday by North Korea, which did not specify the reasons behind the delay, a spokesperson for the South Korean Unification Ministry told Efe news.
Delegations from Pyongyang and Seoul were scheduled to hold a working-level meeting on Wednesday at the militarised border to specify details on the protocol and security of the summit.
North Korea also proposed that the two Koreas hold another talk on Saturday to discuss ways to establish a direct hotline between their leaders, Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in, with the aim of facilitating preparations for the summit, according to the Ministry.
Seoul and Pyongyang have not yet publicly detailed the contents of the summit’s agenda, which will be the first encounter between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea in 11 years, and also mark the first time ever that a North Korean leader sets foot on South Korean soil, as the summit is planned to be held on the southern side of the border.
South Korea will send a seven-member delegation, led by the presidential secretary on protocol, Cho Han-ki, to the upcoming working-level meeting, while the North has yet to confirm its plan to send a six-member delegation to the talks.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Events, Social Round-up, World
Seoul : The North Korean leader and South Korean high-level envoys have reached an “satisfactory” agreement during their meeting in Pyongyang, to hold a inter-Korean summit with the South Korean President, the North Korean state news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.
Seoul’s representatives delivered a letter from South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Kim Jong-un, who, upon “hearing the intention of President Moon Jae-in for a summit (…), exchanged views and made a satisfactory agreement,” according to the North Korean state media.
Kim and the South Korean envoys also exchanged views on what steps to take to “ease the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and promote dialogue, cooperation and exchange.”
The North Korean leader, according to Efe, held a “sincere conversation” with Seoul’s delegation, showed them his “firm will to vigorously advance the north-south relations and write a new history of national reunification” and gave instructions to “rapidly take practical steps” for this bilateral improvement.
In early February, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, made an historic visit to South Korea on the occasion of the Winter Olympic Games, held in the South Korean county of PyeongChang, and conveyed to Moon an invitation to travel to Pyongyang and participate in a high-level inter-Korean summit, the first of its kind in more than a decade.
The South Korean president welcomed the invitation, but considered that certain conditions should be met to make his visit to Pyongyang a reality, including a new round of talks between the United States and North Korea.
If the meeting between Kim and Moon were to be held, it would be the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade, after the ones held in Pyongyang in 2000 and 2007 between the late leader and father of Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il, and the former South Korean presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Tae-woo, respectively.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Events, Social Round-up, World
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, shakes hands with Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North Korea’s agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs, as Kim Yo Jong, right, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, stand during a meeting at the presidential house in Seoul on Saturday.
Seoul : North Korea’s rather reclusive leader Kim Jong-un has asked South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit Pyongyang at the “earliest date” possible for what will be a third inter-Korean summit.
The invitation was delivered on Saturday at a landmark meeting between Moon and the North Korean leader’s sister Kim Yo-jong in the Presidential Palace in Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported.
Kim Yo-jong and the North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, made up the most senior delegation from Pyongyang o visit the South since the Korean War in the 1950s.
Kim Yo-jong invited Moon to visit “at the early date possible”, a spokesman for South Korea’s Presidential Palace said.
Moon apparently cited the conditions necessary for an inter-Korean summit. “Let us make it happen by creating the necessary conditions in the future,” he was quoted as saying.
The South Korean President also stressed the need for the Communist North to resume its dialogue with the US. “An early resumption of dialogue between the US and the North is needed also for the development of the South-North Korean relationship,” he said, according to his spokesman.
The figures from the two Koreas shared kimchi (Korean pickled cabbage) and soju rice liquor, and spoke for three hours. Moon’s spokesman said the meeting at the Blue House was held in a “friendly” mood.
Other members of the North Korean delegation present at Saturday’s meeting included Ri Son Gwon — who led the first sit-down talks at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) earlier this year, and Choe Hwi.
South Korean participants included senior officials Jeong Eui-yong, Jo Myong-gyoon and Im Jong-suk — the chief Presidential Secretary.
The meeting followed a brief encounter between the two parties at the Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday, in which Moon twice shook hands with Yo-jong.
However, the apparent thaw was not reflected in Washington. US Vice-President Mike Pence, sitting a few seats away in the same Opening Ceremony VIP booth, looked stony faced as the scene unfolded.
Pence, who is leading the US delegation to the Olympics, briefly encountered Kim Yong-nam at the Games but the two tried to avoid directly facing each other.
He has accused Pyongyang of using the event for its own ends. “We will not allow North Korean propaganda to hijack the message and imagery of the Olympic Games,” he said in Japan earlier this week.
Later on Saturday, Moon and Kim Yong-nam will attend the first ice hockey match played by teams from both the sides, according to reports.
It was not immediately reported whether the North Korean leader’s sister would attend the evening match against Switzerland.
—IANS
