WASHINGTON: The US has an "obligation" to pursue a diplomatic solution with North Korea, and there is a "real opportunity" for progress, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview broadcast today.

"We have an obligation to engage in diplomatic discourse to try and find a peaceful solution so that Americans aren't held at risk by Kim Jong Un and his nuclear arsenal," Pompeo told ABC, saying that there is a "real opportunity" for progress.

America's top diplomat also said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held in-depth talks about a denuclearization "mechanism" when they met over Easter weekend.

"We talked a great deal about what it might look like, what this complete, verifiable, irreversible mechanism might look like," Pompeo said.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with Kim in a historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953, but 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.

The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for US President Donald Trump's own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalized.</s>The Associated PressSEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to shut down his country’s nuclear test site in May and disclose the process to experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States, Seoul’s presidential office said Sunday.

Kim also told South Korean President Moon Jae-in during their historic summit on Friday that the North would have no need to keep nuclear weapons if Washington commits to formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War and signs a non-aggression pact with Pyongyang, the presidential Blue House said.

While there are lingering questions about whether North Korea will ever decide to fully relinquish its nukes as it heads into negotiations with the United States, Kim’s comments qualify as the North’s most specific acknowledgement yet that denuclearization would constitute surrendering its weapons.

Seoul, which shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to broker talks between Kim and President Donald Trump that are expected in May or June, has said Kim has expressed genuine interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons. But there has been skepticism because North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of “denuclearization” that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its troops and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.

The closure of the nuclear test site would be a dramatic but likely symbolic event to set up Kim’s summit with Trump. North Korea already announced this month that it has suspended all tests of nuclear devices and intercontinental ballistic missiles and plans to close its nuclear testing ground.

During their summit at a border truce village, Moon and Kim promised to work toward the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, but made no references to verification or timetables.

Kim also expressed optimism about his meeting with Trump, saying the president will learn he’s not one to fire missiles toward the United States, Moon’s spokesman Yoon Young-chan said.

“Once we start talking, the United States will know that I am not a person to launch nuclear weapons at South Korea, the Pacific or the United States,” Kim said, according to Yoon.

“If we maintain frequent meetings and build trust with the United States and receive promises for an end to the war and a non-aggression treaty, then why would we need to live in difficulty by keeping our nuclear weapons?” Yoon quoted Kim as saying.

Adam Mount, a senior defense analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said Kim’s comments were significant because they’re his most explicit acknowledgement yet that denuclearization means surrendering his nuclear weapons.

“Questions remain about whether Kim will agree to discuss other nuclear technology, fissile material and missiles. However, they imply a phased process with reciprocal concessions,” Mount said in an email. “It is not clear that the Trump administration will accept that kind of protracted program.”

Kim reacted to skepticism that the North would be closing down only the northernmost test tunnel at the site in Punggye-ri, which some analysts say became too unstable to conduct further underground detonations following the country’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September. In his conversation with Moon, Kim denied that he would be merely clearing out damaged goods, saying the site also has two new tunnels that are larger than previous testing facilities, Yoon said.

Some analysts see Moon’s agreement with Kim at the summit as a disappointment, citing the lack of references to verification and time frames and also the absence of a definition on what would constitute as a “complete” denuclearization of the peninsula.

But Patrick McEachern, a former State Department analyst currently with the Washington-based Wilson Center, said it was still meaningful that Moon extracted a commitment from Kim to complete denuclearization, which marked a significant change from Kim’s previous public demand to expand his nuclear arsenal quantitatively and qualitatively.

“The public conversation should now shift from speculation on whether North Korea would consider denuclearization to how South Korea and the United States can advance this denuclearization pledge in concrete steps in light of North Korea’s reciprocal demands for concrete steps toward an eventual peace agreement,” McEachern said in an email.

North Korea has invited the outside world to witness the dismantling of its nuclear facilities before. In June 2008, international broadcasters were allowed to air the demolishing of a cooling tower at the Nyongbyon reactor site, a year after the North reached an agreement with the U.S. and four other nations to disable its nuclear facilities in return for an aid package worth about $400 million.

But the deal eventually collapsed after North Korea refused to accept U.S.-proposed verification methods, and the country went on to conduct its second nuclear test detonation in May 2009.

Yoon said Kim also revealed plans to sync its time zone with South Korea’s. The Koreas had used the same time zone for decades before the North created its own “Pyongyang Time” in 2015 by setting the clock 30 minutes behind South Korea and Japan.

Yoon said the North’s decision to return to Seoul’s time zone was aimed at facilitating communication with South Korea and the United States.</s>April 30 (UPI) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's up close and personal encounter with North Korea's reclusive Kim Jong Un is providing insights into Kim's character: a man who disarms others with jokes and displays good manners.

A presidential Blue House official who briefed reporters Monday said Kim left a positive impression on Moon during the summit Friday, News 1 reported.

Moon had reportedly said Kim was "frank and courteous" and deferred to Moon, who is about 30 years older than the North Korean leader.

At one point of the summit, the North Korean leader waited for Moon to board an elevator first before getting on himself.

The North Korean leader also gently pulled aside his wife Ri Sol Ju so South Korean first lady Kim Jung-sook, 62, could enter the elevator first, the Blue House official said.

Kim joked he was "embarrassed" or bashful after South Korean officials applauded one of his several handshakes with Moon during the summit.

"I feel embarrassed for receiving applause just for a handshake," Kim reportedly said, according to local paper Hankyoreh.

The two Korean leaders also exchanged views on inter-Korea communications.

According to the report, Kim asked whether Moon will "always pick up the phone" if he called Seoul on the newly established hotline.

Moon said, "That's not how [the hotline] works."

Moon then explained administrators on both sides need to make an appointment before a call takes place.

Kim may have put South Korea's top government officials at ease with small talk.

Upon meeting Seoul's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa, Kim said he recognizes her because he had "seen her on TV many times."

Kim may have also taken Seoul's Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyun by surprise with his remarks.

Yonhap reported Monday the North Korean leader said he confirmed his desire to not use force on the peninsula.

According to Cho, Kim said the use of force would be the equivalent of "piercing my eye with my own hand."

Following the summit, South Koreans are showing a renewed enthusiasm for North Korean products, including the country's beer.

South Koreans commenting online said they would like to taste North Korea's Taedonggang beer, following reports Kim compared North and South Korean beer during the summit dinner, No Cut News reported Monday.

The beer was embargoed after 2010.</s>President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte called the DPRK's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un his idol after the latter had met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Duterte stressed that their aspiration to cooperate led to the easing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

"You know what, he became my idol," the Philippines' president told reporters after returning to his country from a summit in Singapore, as quoted by The Rappler. Duterte pointed out that North Korea's leader was "the hero of the day."

Duterte welcomed the commitment of the DPRK to continue denuclearization and stressed that he hopes to meet with Kim Jong-un sometime to "congratulate him."

READ MORE: North and South Korea Historic Meeting: The Politics Behind the Summit

"I hope he considers me a friend," the president noted, adding that he is "impressed" with the North Korean leader.

Previously, the Philippines' Duterte warned that Kim Jong-un, who is "playing with his bombs, his toys," "just might go crazy one moment," as "his mind is not working well."

The historic summit came after Kim Jong-un vowed that North Korea's military would halt nuclear testing and join international efforts on denuclearization. Pyongyang's announcement came after months of rising tensions on the peninsula due to North Korea's nuclear activity.</s>What world is saying about Koreas summit

PARIS: World leaders and governments hailed the historic summit Friday between the leaders of North and South Korea as a step towards peace, but also sounded a note of caution about the challenges ahead.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-In, at the first such summit in 11 years, agreed to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearisation of the divided peninsula.

´Only time will tell´: "After a furious year of missile launches and nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place," tweeted US President Donald Trump.

"Good things are happening, but only time will tell!" added Trump, who is scheduled to meet Kim within weeks. In a second tweet, Trump wrote: "KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its great people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!"

New journey to stability´: "We applaud the Korean leaders´ historic step and appreciate their political decisions and courage," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press briefing.

"We hope and look forward to them taking this opportunity to further open a new journey of long-term stability on the peninsula." She also cited a poem that reads: "We remain brothers after all the vicissitudes; let´s forgo our old grudges, smiling we meet again."

´Watching North´s movements´: "Today President Moon Jae-in and Chairman Kim Jong Un held earnest discussions about North Korea´s denuclearisation. I want to welcome that as a positive move toward comprehensive resolution of various issues concerning North Korea," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.

"We strongly hope that North Korea will take concrete action through this meeting and a summit between the US and North Korea. "We will keep watching North Korea´s future movements.

"All in all, I wish to continue close coordination between Japan, the United States and South Korea towards comprehensive resolution of the abduction, nuclear and missile issues, and towards the US-North Korea summit talks."

´Very positive news´: "This is very positive news," Russian President Vladimir Putin´s spokesman told reporters. "Today we see that this direct dialogue has taken place (and) it has certain prospects," he said. "The will to seek agreement can be seen on both sides, including the most important thing, the will to begin and continue dialogue. That is a positive fact," Dmitry Peskov said.

´Hard work lies ahead´: "This is a first step, it is encouraging, but we have to realise there is still a lot of hard work that lies ahead of us," Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.</s>South Korea said it will remove propaganda-broadcasting loudspeakers from the tense border with North Korea.

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 8, 2016 file photo, a South Korean army soldier stands near the loudspeakers near the border area between South Korea and North Korea in Yeoncheon, South Korea. (Lim Tae-hoon/Newsis via AP, File)

South Korea will remove propaganda-broadcasting loudspeakers from the border with North Korea this week, officials said Monday, as the rivals move to follow through with their leaders’ summit declaration that produced reconciliation steps without a breakthrough in the nuclear standoff.

During their historic meeting Friday at a Korean border village, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to end hostile acts against each other along their tense border, establish a liaison office and resume reunions of separated families. They also agreed to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, but failed to produce specific time frames and disarmament steps.

Seoul’s Defence Ministry said it would pull back dozens of its front-line loudspeakers on Tuesday before media cameras. Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyunsoo Seoul expects Pyongyang to do the same.

South Korea had already turned off its loudspeakers ahead of Friday’s summit talks, and North Korea responded by halting its own broadcasts.

The two Koreas had been engaged in Cold War-era psychological warfare since the North’s fourth nuclear test in early 2016. Seoul began blaring anti-Pyongyang broadcasts and K-Pop songs via border loudspeakers, and Pyongyang quickly matched the South’s action with its own border broadcasts and launches of balloons carrying anti-South leaflets.

Seoul’s announcement came a day after it said Kim told Moon during the summit that he would shut down his country’s only known nuclear testing site and allow outside experts and journalists to watch the process.

South Korean officials also cited Kim as saying he would be willing to give up his nuclear programs if the United States commits to a formal end to the Korean War and a pledge not to attack the North. Kim had already suspended his nuclear and missile tests while offering to put his nukes up for negotiations.

The closing of the Punggy-ri test site, where all six of North Korea’s atomic bomb tests occurred, could be an eye-catching disarmament step by Pyongyang. But there is still deep skepticism over whether Kim is truly willing to negotiate away the nukes that his country has built after decades of struggle and sacrifice.

According to a summit accord, Kim and Moon agreed to achieve “a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization,” rather than clearly stating “a nuclear-free North Korea.” Pyongyang has long said the term “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” must include the United States pulling its 28,500 troops out of South Korea and removing its so-called “nuclear umbrella” security commitment to South Korea and Japan.

Kim could offer more disarmament concessions during his meeting with President Donald Trump, expected in May or June, but it’s unclear what specific steps he would take. Some experts say Kim may announce scraping North Korea’s long-range missile program, which has posed a direct threat to the United States.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton reacted coolly to word that Kim would abandon his weapons if the United States pledged not to invade.

Asked on CBS’s “Face the Nation” whether the U.S. would make such a promise, Bolton said: “Well, we’ve heard this before. This is — the North Korean propaganda playbook is an infinitely rich resource. What we want to see from them is evidence that it’s real and not just rhetoric.”

Kim’s meeting with Moon was his second summit with a foreign leader since he took office in late 2011. In March, he travelled to Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. While meeting with Xi, Kim suggested he prefers a step-by-step disarmament process in line with corresponding outside rewards, according to Chinese state media. U.S. officials want the North to take complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament measures.

China said Monday that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Pyongyang on Wednesday and Thursday.

China is the North’s only major economic partner, but trade has declined by about 90 per cent following Beijing’s implementation of economic sanctions imposed over the North’s nuclear and missile tests. Some analysts say Kim’s recent charm offensive was aimed at weakening the sanctions.

Related: World needs to be ‘careful’ about Korean peace deal, says Canadian minister

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.</s>North Korea offers to give up nukes if US vows not to attack

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told his South Korean counterpart at their historic summit that he would be willing to give up his nuclear weapons if the U.S. commits to a formal end to the Korean War and a pledge not to attack the North, Seoul officials said Sunday.

Kim also vowed during his meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday to shut down the North's nuclear test site in May and disclose the process to experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States, Seoul's presidential office said.

While there are lingering questions about whether North Korea will ever decide to fully relinquish its nukes as it heads into negotiations with the U.S., Kim's comments amount to the North's most specific acknowledgement yet that "denuclearization" would constitute surrendering its weapons.

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton reacted coolly to word that Kim would abandon his weapons if the United States pledged not to invade.

Asked on CBS' "Face the Nation" whether the U.S. would make such a promise, Bolton said: "Well, we've heard this before. This is — the North Korean propaganda playbook is an infinitely rich resource."

"What we want to see from them is evidence that it's real and not just rhetoric," he added.

Seoul officials, who have shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to broker talks between Kim and President Donald Trump that are expected in May or June, said Kim has expressed genuine interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons.

But there has been skepticism because North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of "denuclearization" that bears no resemblance to the American definition. The North has long vowed to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its 28,500 troops from South Korea and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.

During their summit at a truce village on the border, Moon and Kim promised to work toward the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula but made no references to verification or timetables.

Kim also expressed optimism about his meeting with Trump, Moon's spokesman Yoon Young-chan said.

"Once we start talking, the United States will know that I am not a person to launch nuclear weapons at South Korea, the Pacific or the United States," Kim said, according to Yoon.

Yoon also quoted Kim as saying: "If we maintain frequent meetings and build trust with the United States and receive promises for an end to the war and a non-aggression treaty, then why would we need to live in difficulty by keeping our nuclear weapons?"

The Korean Peninsula technically remains in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War was halted with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The closing of the nuclear test site would be a dramatic but likely symbolic event to set up Kim's summit with Trump. North Korea already announced this month that it has suspended all tests of nuclear devices and intercontinental ballistic missiles and plans to close its nuclear testing ground.

Still, Adam Mount, a senior defense analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said Kim's comments were significant because they are his most explicit acknowledgement yet that denuclearization means surrendering his nuclear weapons.

"Questions remain about whether Kim will agree to discuss other nuclear technology, fissile material and missiles. However, they imply a phased process with reciprocal concessions," Mount said in an email. "It is not clear that the Trump administration will accept that kind of protracted program."

Analysts reacted with skepticism to Kim's previously announced plan to close down the test site at Punggye-ri, saying the northernmost tunnel had already become too unstable to use for underground detonations anyway following the country's sixth and most powerful test blast in September.

In his conversation with Moon, Kim denied that he would be merely clearing out damaged goods, saying the site also has two new tunnels that are larger than previous testing facilities, Yoon said.

Some analysts see Moon's agreement with Kim at the summit as a disappointment, citing the lack of references to verification and timeframes and also the absence of a definition on what would constitute a "complete" denuclearization of the peninsula.

But Patrick McEachern, a former State Department analyst now with the Washington-based Wilson Center, said it was still meaningful that Moon extracted a commitment from Kim to complete denuclearization, which marked a significant change from Kim's previous public demand to expand his arsenal of nuclear weapons in number and quality.

"The public conversation should now shift from speculation on whether North Korea would consider denuclearization to how South Korea and the United States can advance this denuclearization pledge in concrete steps in light of North Korea's reciprocal demands for concrete steps toward an eventual peace agreement," McEachern said in an email.

North Korea has invited the outside world to witness the dismantling of its nuclear facilities before. In June 2008, international broadcasters were allowed to air the demolition of a cooling tower at the Nyongbyon reactor site, a year after the North reached an agreement with the U.S. and four other nations to disable its nuclear facilities in return for an aid package worth about $400 million.

But the deal eventually collapsed after North Korea refused to accept U.S.-proposed verification methods, and the country went on to conduct its second nuclear test detonation in May 2009.

Yoon said Kim also revealed plans to sync its time zone with South Korea's. The Koreas had used the same time zone for decades before the North created its own "Pyongyang Time" in 2015 by setting the clock 30 minutes behind South Korea and Japan.

Yoon said the North's decision to return to Seoul's time zone was aimed at facilitating communication with South Korea and the U.S.</s>Newly confirmed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, both making the rounds of the Sunday talk show circuit, said the Trump administration is not entering high stakes denuclearization talks with North Korea with “starry-eyed” or “naive” expectations.

Pompeo, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” acknowledged the scrutiny surrounding the upcoming talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but argued that criticism the administration has not sought enough concessions from North Korea ahead of the meeting are unfounded.

Pompeo, who met with Kim secretly during the Easter weekend in his previous role as CIA director, said the two talked about releasing three Americans detained by North Korea as one of the conditions for successful talks.

“We know the history. We know the risks. We’re going to be very different,” Pompeo told ABC News’ Jon Karl. “We’re not going to make promises. We’re not going to take words. We’re going to look for actions and deeds.”

Bolton, appearing on Fox News Sunday said the president would not ease economic sanctions on North Korea until it completely dismantles its nuclear weapons program. Despite Kim’s recent pledge to stop nuclear weapons testing ahead of the summit with Trump, Bolton said “mere words are not going to persuade anybody,” noting that the country has previously broken past arms agreements.

“It’s also the case that they’ve lied about it and broken their commitments,” Bolton said on Fox News Sunday. “Which is one reason there’s nobody in the Trump administration starry-eyed about what may happen here.”

Bolton said, Trump “sees the potential here for historic agreement, a breakthrough that nobody could have imagined even a few months ago,” but also sees that “the potential for no deal at all is also there. And we’re not going to know until we actually have the meeting.”

The meeting between Trump and Kim is still in the works, with the president announcing last week that a site for the summit had been narrowed to two locations. Trump has said he is hopeful the meeting will result in “total denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, but has also said if talks are not fruitful he will walk away from the bargaining table.

Kim has told South Korean President Moon Jae-in that North Korea will abandon its nuclear weapons program if the United States commits to formally ending the Korean War and promises not to invade North Korea, a South Korean government spokeswoman told The New York Times on Sunday.

“If we meet often and build trust with the United States and if an end to the war and nonaggression are promised, why would we live in difficulty with nuclear weapons?” Kim told Moon, according to an account provided by South Korea’s government, following historic talks between the two leaders held Friday.

Kim also said he was open to inviting journalists and experts from the United States and South Korea to witness the shut down of the country’s underground nuclear test site.

Lawmakers weighing in on the upcoming North Korea summit urged the Trump administration to continue taking a hard-line stance with Kim, noting that despite Kim’s recent overtures, he remains a repressive leader.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he did not agree with the president’s use of the word “honorable” to describe Kim last week.

“I would never use the word honorable to describe Kim Jong Un,” Lankford said. “I think he’s better to be able to just call him rocket man and to be able to stick with that than honorable just because he’s a ruthless dictator that does public executions of anyone that disagrees.”

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) — appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” — said Trump should not compromise with Kim on pulling U.S. troops from South Korea. Kim has reportedly sought the withdrawal of the more than 28,000 American forces stationed in South Korea, but did not bring up the request when meeting with Pompeo, according to media reports.

“Our presence in South Korea continues to be essential,” Blunt said.

Also Sunday, Trump kicked off his morning on Twitter, criticizing Saturday night’s White House Correspondents Association Dinner, calling the annual scholarship banquet that historically roasts the president and reporters alike “a very big, boring bust.”

“While Washington, Michigan, was a big success, Washington, D.C., just didn’t work,” Trump tweeted. “Everyone is talking about the fact that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a very big, boring bust . . . the so-called comedian really “bombed.”

Trump, who skipped the event for a second year in a row, opting instead to hold his own campaign-style rally in Washington, Michigan, on Saturday night, appeared to address criticism surrounding the performance of comedian Michelle Wolf, who some journalists and White House aides on social media said crossed the line with some of her jabs aimed at the president’s top female aides.

NBC News White House reporter Kelly O’Donnell, in a tweet Saturday night, referring to jokes aimed at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote: “The spirit of the event had always been jokes that singe but don’t burn. Reporters who work with her daily appreciate that @presssec was there.”

Comedian Kathy Griffin, who was at the gala, defended Wolf on Twitter, saying if journalists were upset by Wolf’s jokes “then don’t have a comic do a roast. ”</s>The US has an "obligation" to pursue a diplomatic solution with North Korea, and there is a "real opportunity" for progress, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"We have an obligation to engage in diplomatic discourse to try and find a peaceful solution so that Americans aren't held at risk by Kim Jong Un and his nuclear arsenal," Pompeo told ABC's "This Week."

America's top diplomat also said he and North Korean leader Kim held in-depth talks about a denuclearization "mechanism" when they met over Easter weekend.

"We talked a great deal about what it might look like, what this complete, verifiable, irreversible mechanism might look like," Pompeo said, according to a transcript released by ABC.

Pompeo told journalists on Sunday that he believes Kim is looking for "concrete" actions.

"I'm confident that Kim Jong Un is looking for more than a piece of paper," Pompeo said during a Middle East trip.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Libya's decision to give up its nuclear program through diplomacy was a "model" for efforts to get North Korea to do likewise.

"We have very much in mind the Libya model from 2003, 2004," Bolton told Fox News Sunday when asked if North Korea would have to fully give up its nuclear weapons, fuel and missiles before the US makes concessions.

"There are obviously differences, the Libyan program was much smaller. But that was basically the agreement that we made," Bolton said.

Libya announced in late 2003 that it was giving up any ambitions to acquire weapons of mass destruction and would allow UN inspections of its nuclear sites, following months of secret talks with London and Washington.

But Libya's move to scrap its nuclear program also serves as a model of what North Korea fears will happen: its government was later overthrown by rebel forces supported by Western air strikes in 2011.

Pyongyang regularly cites the fates of Saddam Hussein in Iraq -- whose government was toppled by a US-led invasion -- and Libya's Moamer Kadhafi, who was killed after his fall from power, as evidence of the need for nuclear arms.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with Kim in an historic summit, agreeing on Friday to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

An armistice brought the fighting on the Korean peninsula to an end in 1953 but, 65 years later, a final peace agreement has still not been reached.

The Moon-Kim meeting has raised expectations for US President Donald Trump's own planned summit with the North Korean leader, the date and location of which have not yet been finalized.

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles theoretically capable of reaching the US mainland.

Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.</s>At a carefully planned inter-Korean summit Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threw out an unexpected curve ball.

As Kim crossed over the border to meet his southern counterpart on South Korean soil, the two Korean leaders exchanged pleasantries and shook hands, as expected. What took place immediately afterwards, however, was unplanned.

“When do I get to visit the North?” South Korean President Moon Jae-in reportedly asked Kim, who replied that he could do so right then and there.

The two Korean leaders then stepped over the concrete slab delineating the inter-Korean border into North Korea. Hand-in-hand, Kim and Moon then stepped across the military demarcation line together.

The entire spectacle, one of the most talked about moments of the summit, was clear evidence that both sides understand the value of propaganda.

This scene, historically significant for a number of reasons, was preceded by a polite yet somewhat awkward conversation.

“Nice to meet you,” Kim said. “How was the journey?” Moon asked, to which Kim replied, “It was fine.”

The South Korean president then said that it was nice to meet Kim. “I can’t stop the feeling excited to meet in this historic place, and I am very moved that the president came to greet me at the demarcation line,” the latter responded.

“It was a courageous decision for you to come here,” Moon said, leading Kim to say that it was not. “It’s a historic moment,” Moon stated.

Indeed, Friday’s summit was significant, as it is the third inter-Korean summit and the first since Kim took power.

Furthermore, Friday marked the first time a North Korean leader has visited South Korea since the end of Korean War hostilities.

During their meeting, the two sides agreed to increased bilateral cooperation, closer diplomatic ties, the cessation of hostilities and phased disarmament. Both Moon and Kim expressed a desire to finally end the Korean War.

RELATED: Nikki Haley Sends Direct Message to Syria: US Troops Aren’t Going Anywhere

Timetables remain unclear, and commitments remain vague, but the results of Friday’s summit may have the potential to move the Korean Peninsula closer to a state of peace.

Moon is expected to visit Pyongyang later this year.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.
South Korean officials say that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stated during his summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he would close the country's Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site in May.