Islam Times - South Korea’s president arrives in Pyongyang for summit

Islam Times - South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in has arrived in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, on a landmark visit and to attend a three-day summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Kim welcomed Moon at Pyongyang’s international airport on Tuesday morning ahead of their summit, which is aimed at hammering out a consensus on officially ending the 1950-53 Korean War and reviving stalled denuclearization talks between the North and the United States.

Moon was also greeted by Kim, his wife, and a large delegation after walking down the stairs of his aircraft, with a North Korean military band playing music and crowds of North Koreans cheering near the red carpet.

Moon and Kim are scheduled to hold talks after lunch on Tuesday, with a three-point agenda that would include discussions on improving inter-Korean relations, promoting the initiation of denuclearization through US-North Korea dialog, and ending inter-Korean military tensions.

“If this visit somehow leads to the resumption of the US-North Korea talks, it would be significant enough in itself,” Moon was quoted as saying before departure.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the three-day summit “will offer an important opportunity in further accelerating the development of inter-Korean relations that is making a new history.”

Moon has already met Kim twice this year — in April and May. He has been instrumental in brokering a summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, when Kim backed the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The Korean War ended with a truce and not a peace treaty. Ever since, the two countries were on a near-constant war footing. But Kim initiated a rapprochement with South Korea in January. And the US started diplomatically engaging North Korea only later.

The two Koreas have since been advancing their relations. Diplomacy with the US has stalled, however.

Kim has declared an intention to bring economic prosperity to his country, long subjected to harsh international sanctions.

President Moon’s office announced on Sunday that he would be taking several business tycoons — including Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong — with him to North Korea.

The South Korean president is due to fly to New York later this month to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to meet Trump.