South Korea's presidential Blue House said Monday that it had yet to decide on a date for the reciprocal visit by Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), to Seoul.
Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-keum told a press briefing that it faced a moment to determine when Kim's visit to Seoul would be better - before or after the second DPRK-U.S. summit - to bring a more effective peace and prosperity to the Korean Peninsula.
"(We) are discussing it with various possibilities being opened," Kim said.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in traveled to Pyongyang in September for his third summit with the DPRK leader, who promised to visit Seoul at an early date. The Blue House had expected visit to be made this year.
Kim's reciprocal visit to Seoul could be delayed to next year as the Blue House indicated the visit can be made after the second DPRK-U.S. summit.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would hold his second summit with the DPRK leader early next year. The first-ever DPRK-U.S. summit between Trump and Kim was held in Singapore in June.
The Blue House spokesman expressed his anticipation that the high-level talks between Pyongyang and Washington could be held at an earliest possible date.
The senior-level DPRK-U.S. dialogue, originally scheduled to be held in New York earlier this month, was postponed.
Asked about whether South Korea was still aiming to declare an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War by the end of this year, the Blue House spokesman said there has been no change.
However, the spokesman noted that it cannot be decided upon only by the South Korean government, saying that discussions were still underway to achieve the goal.
The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war as the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
