Journalists work at the press center of the upcoming 2018 Inter-Korean Summit in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 17, 2018. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un would sit face to face at least twice during their third summit in Pyongyang scheduled to last for three days from Tuesday, the presidential Blue House of South Korea said Monday. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the defused military tension between the two Koreas would be on the main dialogue agenda for the upcoming summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un.
Im Jong-seok, Moon's chief of staff, told a press briefing Monday at the Seoul press center for the upcoming summit that Moon will make efforts to encourage the DPRK and the United States to rapidly resume sincere talks in a bid to let the DPRK advance the denuclearization and the United State take corresponding measures.
He said Moon will play a role in arbitrating and facilitating dialogues between Pyongyang and Washington for the denuclearization as U.S. President Donald Trump called for Moon to play a role as a chief negotiator, while the DPRK leader also had an anticipation for Moon's role.
Moon was forecast to sufficiently deliver the U.S. stance to Kim during the upcoming summit, while conveying the DPRK position to Trump as the South Korean president is set to visit New York later this month for the UN General Assembly.
Moon and Trump were expected to hold a separate summit meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The presidential chief of staff declined to deliberate on what concrete measures for the denuclearization Moon and Kim would discuss and even whether their discussion could be made known to the international community, though he noted that it would be the first time for the denuclearization to be on the key agenda in the inter-Korean summit.
Moon and Kim agreed to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula during their first summit on April 27 at the border village of Panmunjom.
Another on the main agenda would be the eased military tension along the heavily armed inter-Korean border. Im said the leaders of the two sides will discuss ways to end the military tension and the threat of war on the peninsula.
Moon and Kim, the chief of staff said, were anticipated to reach a meaningful agreement to fundamentally eliminate the threats of armed conflicts and war.
The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with armistice. Following the first summit, Moon and Kim agreed to declare the end to the Korean War by the end of this year.
Military officials from the two sides discussed ways to withdraw a part of guard posts inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which left the peninsula divided, to jointly excavate the remains inside the DMZ of fallen soldiers during the Korean War, to disarm the Joint Security Area (JSA) inside Panmunjom and to ban the entry of warships into waters near the western inter-Korean sea boundary.
Moon and Kim will also discuss ways to improve inter-Korean relations, especially making in-depth discussions on how to fundamentally eliminate the pain of Korean families who have been separated since the end of the Korean War, the presidential chief of staff said.
The separated families have been banned from exchanging letters and phone calls, even less meeting each other. The reunion of the separated families was held in August as agreed upon during the first Moon-Kim summit.
During the upcoming summit, Moon and Kim would sit face to face at least twice. Moon was expected to arrive at the Pyongyang international airport at about 10 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) Tuesday and be greeted by a welcoming ceremony at the airport.
Moon was set to stay in Pyongyang for three days till Thursday.
