Koreas begin summit preparations

Koreas begin summit preparations

People watch a TV screen showing images of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Seoul Railway Station. (AP Photo)
People watch a TV screen showing images of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Seoul Railway Station. (AP Photo)

SEOUL: The two Koreas will hold high-level talks on Thursday to prepare for an April summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, South Korea said Saturday.

The summit aims to improve relations and explore ways to resolve the standoff over the North's nuclear programme. It is also expected to lay the groundwork for meeting between Kim and US Presidsent Donald Trump sometime before the end of May.

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will lead the South's delegation at next week's meeting in the border village of Panmunjom, where officials will discuss the date and specific agendas of the summit, according to the ministry. The North's delegation will be led by Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs.

The rivals agreed to a summit when Moon's envoys visited Kim in Pyongyang earlier this month. South Korean officials also brokered the potential Kim-Trump meeting.

The leaders of the two Koreas have held talks only twice since the 1950-53 Korean War.

It's unclear whether the leaders' meetings between Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington, if they take place, could lead to any meaningful breakthrough after an unusually provocative year. North Korea in 2017 tested its most powerful nuclear weapon to date and test-launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles theoretically capable of striking the US mainland.

There are also concerns in South Korea over whether the appointment of John Bolton, Trump's hawkish replacement for national security adviser HR McMaster, could potentially complicate efforts to set up talks between Trump and Kim, given Bolton's past bellicose rhetoric about North Korea.

A South Korean presidential official, who asked not to be named, downplayed such worries on Friday, saying that Trump remains firmly committed to the summit and is leading the drive to set it up.

The planned summit between Moon and Kim will be preceded by performances of South Korean pop singers in Pyongyang on April 1, followed by a joint performance with North Korean artists on April 3.

The South Korean artists will include Cho Yong-pil, who performed in Pyongyang during a previous era of detente, and the girl band Red Velvet.

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