There Appears To Be A Breakthrough In North-South Korea Talks

North Korea has agreed to a temporary freeze of its illicit nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. This comes after a trip by South Korean envoys to Pyongyang.</s>China has cautiously welcomed an agreement by North and South Korea to hold a historic summit, urging both sides to "seize the current opportunity" to promote the denuclearisation of the peninsula.

The foreign ministry issued a statement late Tuesday praising the "positive outcomes" of a meeting between South Korean envoys and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

The two countries agreed to hold a summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Demilitarized Zone in late April, according to Seoul.

Pyongyang was also said to be ready to halt nuclear and missile tests, and consider the dramatic step of abandoning costly and controversial WMD programmes if the United States agrees not to attack or overthrow the regime.

"We hope that the DPRK and the ROK can earnestly implement the relevant consensus and continue with their efforts to advance reconciliation and cooperation," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in the statement, using the acronyms of the North and South.

"We hope that all relevant parties can seize the current opportunity, work for the shared goal and make concerted efforts to promote the process of denuclearisation of the Peninsula and politically resolving the Korean Peninsula issue," Geng said.

"China is willing to continue to play its due role to this end."

Earlier on Tuesday, before the landmark announcement, Geng had told reporters that "interactions" between North and South Korea "should be expanded" to include the United States.

US President Donald Trump welcomed Pyongyang's offer as positive -- and apparently sincere -- crediting Washington's "very, very strong" sanctions push, as well as "big help" from China, for the potential diplomatic breakthrough.

Calling the statements coming out of both Seoul and Pyongyang "very positive," Trump refused to rule out a historic meeting with Kim.

"We have come a long way at least rhetorically with North Korea," Trump said. "It would be a great thing for the world, it would be a great thing for North Korea, it would be a great thing for the peninsula, but we will see what happens," he said in the Oval Office.

"We are going to do something, one way or the other, we are going to do something and not let that situation fester," Trump said, in a reference to the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

The breakthrough should please Beijing as the Asian superpower, fearing a conflict at its border, has repeatedly called for negotiations to resolve the nuclear crisis.

China has also urged the United States, Japan and South Korea to suspend joint military drills in the region in return for North Korea to halt its nuclear activities.</s>SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told a visiting delegation from South Korea that it is his “firm will to vigorously advance” inter-Korean ties and “write a new history of national reunification,” the North’s official news agency said on Tuesday.

“Hearing the intention of President Moon Jae In for a summit from the special envoy of the south side, (Kim Jong Un) exchanged views and made a satisfactory agreement,” said Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) of the meeting that took place on Monday.

The agency did not provide details on what that agreement was.

A 10-member South Korean delegation led by National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, went to North Korea in hopes of encouraging North Korea and the United States to talk to one another. The two sides have stoked months of tension in the region, prompted by bellicose insults between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has been developing nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States. Both Pyongyang and Washington say they want a diplomatic solution.

Seoul’s delegation met Kim Jong Un, his sister Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s wife and other officials on Monday, said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the South’s presidential office.

The delegation will wrap up a two-day trip to Pyongyang later on Tuesday after another meeting with North Korean officials, the spokesman said.

The members of the delegation are the most senior South Korean government officials that have met with Kim Jong Un since the North Korean leader inherited the leadership from his father Kim Jong Il in late 2011.

Chung said at the Blue House on Monday before his departure that his team would deliver the South Korean president’s wish to bring about denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and permanent peace.

Kim Jong Un gave orders for “practical steps” regarding the letter that was delivered to him from Moon via the delegation, KCNA said without elaborating.

“He also made an exchange of in-depth views on the issues for easing the acute military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and activating the versatile dialogue, contact, cooperation and exchange,” the report said.

Both North Korea and the United States have said they are open to talks, but the U.S. position has been that dialogue must be aimed at North Korea’s denuclearisation, something Pyongyang has rejected.

The Pentagon nevertheless said it was “cautiously optimistic” about the North-South talks, which resumed in January for the first time in two years.

North Korea has vowed never to give up what it calls an essential deterrent against U.S. hostility. Pyongyang has not carried out any nuclear or missile tests since November last year.</s>SEOUL, March 5 (Reuters) - A South Korean delegation led by senior security officials will leave for North Korea on Monday, a presidential official said, aiming to bring together Pyongyang and Washington for talks on the North's nuclear programme.

The 10-member delegation, headed by National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, will leave Seoul Air Base in Seongnam City near Seoul, the capital, at about 0500 GMT, the official said, on condition of anonymity.

"We will deliver President Moon Jae-in's wish to bring about denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and permanent peace by extending the goodwill and better inter-Korean relations created by the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics," Chung said at the presidential Blue House.

The delegation hopes to speak with North Korean officials on starting dialogue between Pyongyang and the United States as well as other countries, he added.

Little has been disclosed of its agenda, but the delegation is expected to attend a dinner with North Korean officials on Monday, with another meeting set for early on Tuesday, said another administration official, who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The government hopes the visit will create "a positive atmosphere", Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a regular briefing.

Thawing relations between the neighbours have prompted speculation of future direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang after months of tension and exchanges of insults between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fuelled fears of war.

North Korea has not carried out any weapons tests since late November, when it tested its largest intercontinental ballistic missile. Inter-Korean talks began after Kim Jong Un said in his New Year's address that he wanted to engage the South.

Pyongyang has since sent athletes to participate in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February, as well as a high-ranking delegation that included Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong.

Both North Korea and the United States have expressed their willingness to talk to each other, but Washington demands Pyongyang "denuke" first. The North says it will not sit with the United States under preconditions.

Pyongyang has also fretted over a joint U.S.-South Korea military exercise, which it sees as practice for war, and which South Korean officials have said will start next month as planned, after being postponed for the Olympics and Paralympics.

Monday's delegation will leave on a special direct flight to Pyongyang rather than a jet chartered from a private airline.

The decision to use a special aircraft, most likely one of the private military jets used by President Moon Jae-in, according to administration sources, was unrelated to U.S. sanctions that bar entry for six months by vessels and aircraft that have visited North Korea.

The delegation's flight plans had already been negotiated with Washington regardless of the sanctions, the officials said.

Seoul had similar discussions with Washington this year when it sent South Korean athletes and journalists for a joint training session at the North's Masikryong ski resort ahead of the Olympics. The South Koreans took a chartered flight operated by Asiana Airlines Inc. (Reporting by Christine Kim; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Paul Tait and Clarence Fernandez)</s>PYONGYANG — North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un is meeting with a high-ranking South Korean delegation in Pyongyang Monday, according to a South Korean government official.

It’s believed to be the first time the young leader has spoken face-to-face with officials from the South since he took power in 2011. Among those Kim will meet are South Korea’s National Security Chief, Chung Eui-yong, and the country’s spy chief, Suh Hoon.

Their trip north is part of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s attempt to broker a diplomatic solution to North Korea’s nuclear program in the wake of the thaw brought about by North Korea’s attendance at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics last month.

It’s a dramatic departure from 2017 when a string of North Korean weapons tests and hostile rhetoric from US President Donald Trump and Kim heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The delegation is there to “have an in-depth discussion on measures to continue various talks between North Korea and the international community, including the United States,” according to Chung.

“Above all, I will communicate clearly the will and intention of the president, who wants the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and create a lasting peace by utilizing the flow of the inter-Korean dialogue, and improvement of the relationship that was built during the PyeongChang Olympic Games,” Chung said.

The two Koreas are now negotiating the details of North Korea’s participation in the Paralympic Winter Games later this month.

For the Moon administration, the Olympic detente has been an opportunity to try to prevent an escalation of last year’s tensions.

“There’s a clear determination on Moon’s part not to lose momentum after the Olympics,” said Euan Graham, the director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank.

Moon, who was elected last year after his conservative predecessor was ousted in a corruption scandal, has been proponent of dialogue and engagement with North Korea since his days as a presidential aide in the 2000s.

Now he has the difficult job of playing interlocutor between a North Korean regime steadfastly clinging to its nuclear weapons program — which it sees as the only way to ensure the survival of its regime — and an administration in Washington that believes Pyongyang’s development of a long-range ballistic missile potentially capable of hitting the US homeland with a nuclear warhead constitutes an unacceptable risk.

“What Moon is trying to do is interpose himself between North Korea and the United States so that there is a kind of defusing role that the South Koreans play, naively or not, in trying to at least sort of forestall any ramping up of tensions,” Graham said.

Though Chung is officially leading the delegation, the attendance of Hoon could signal that the two sides are laying the groundwork for Moon to eventually meet with Kim in person.

Moon was invited north last month by Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, who also serves as the head of the country’s propaganda department. She was in South Korea last month to attend the Winter Games opening ceremony.

Suh was tapped by Moon to serve as the director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service last year. His appointment fueled speculation about a new inter-Korean summit, as Suh helped organize the two inter-Korean summits in the 2000s that saw two consecutive South Korean presidents travel north to meet with Kim Jong Il.

Sending Suh to Pyongyang “suggests they’re already taking about summit preparations,” said Graham.

The delegation will spend Monday night in Pyongyang, return to Seoul Tuesday and then travel to the United States to brief their American counterparts.
• The vice minister of the South Korean Unification Ministry, Chun Hae-sung, a key figure in the January Olympic negotiations.

What happens next

Many analysts worry about what happens to the diplomatic thaw once the Olympic activities finish.

South Korea and the United States are scheduled to hold annual military drills after the Paralympics, South Korean Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo confirmed Monday.

Those drills, which North Korea views as hostile, were delayed in order to ensure the Games went smoothly.

The United States maintains that it’s open to sitting down with Pyongyang, but the North Koreans need to give some sort of signal that they’ll negotiate in good faith and must agree to eventual denuclearization.

But critics contend the Trump administration hasn’t offered a clear, coherent message on diplomacy with the Kim regime.

In a speech at the exclusive Gridiron Club Saturday night — an annual event in which the President and other top political leaders get together to give joke-laden, self-deprecating speeches — Trump touched upon the North Korea issue.

“They called up a couple of days ago and said, ‘We would like to talk,'” Trump said. “And I said, ‘So would we, but you have to de-nuke. You have to de-nuke.’ So let’s see what happens. Let’s see what happens.”

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, for its part, accused the United States this weekend of refusing to recognize realities on the ground and putting forward unrealistic roadblocks to dialogue.

“It is the consistent and principled position of the DPRK,a to resolve issues in a diplomatic and peaceful way through dialogue and negotiation,” KCNA quoted the ministry as saying.

“The dialogue we desire is the one designed to discuss and resolve the issues of mutual concern on an equal footing between states … the US attitude shown after we clarified our intention for DPRK-US dialogue compels us to only think that the US is not interested in resuming the DPRK-US dialogue.”</s>SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has agreed to hold a landmark summit meeting with South Korea’s president next month and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests if his country holds talks with the United States, a senior South Korean official said Tuesday.

Chung Eui-yong, South Korea’s presidential national security director, said the two Koreas agreed to hold their third-ever summit at a border village in late April.

He also said the leaders will establish a “hotline” communication channel to lower military tensions, and would speak together before the planned summit.

Chung led a 10-member South Korean delegation that met with Kim during a two-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital. They returned on Tuesday.

The agreements follow a flurry of cooperative steps taken by the Koreas during last month’s Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea.

Tensions had run high during the previous year because of a barrage of North Korean weapons tests.

The two past summits, in 2000 and 2007, were held between Kim’s late father, Kim Jong Il, and two liberal South Korean presidents.

They resulted in a series of cooperative projects between the Koreas that were scuttled during subsequent conservative administrations in South Korea.

Chung said North Korea agreed to suspend nuclear and missile tests for as long as it holds talks with the United States.

North Korea also made it clear that it would not need to keep its nuclear weapons if military threats against it are removed and it receives a credible security guarantee, Chung said.</s>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea says North Korea has agreed to impose a moratorium on tests of nuclear weapons and missiles if it holds talks with the United States.

South Korea’s presidential national security director said Tuesday that North Korea said it’s ready to have “heart-to-heart” talks with the United States on issues regarding the North’s potential denuclearization and the normalization of relations between Pyongyang and Washington.

He said the North also made it clear that it wouldn’t need to keep its nuclear weapons if military threats against the country are resolved and it receives a security guarantee.

He said the North also promised not to use conventional or nuclear weapons against South Korea.

The comments were made after South Korean officials returned from a visit to the North, where they met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.</s>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has agreed to meet with South Korea’s president next month and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests if his country holds talks with the United States, a senior South Korean official said Tuesday after returning from the North.

The agreements, which follow a flurry of cooperative steps taken by the Koreas during last month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, brightened prospects for a dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. over the North’s nuclear program.

Last year saw increased fears of war on the Korean Peninsula, with Kim and President Donald Trump exchanging fiery rhetoric and crude insults over Kim’s barrage of weapons tests.

But there is still skepticism whether the developments can help establish genuine peace between the Koreas, which have a long history of failing to follow through with major rapprochement agreements.

The United States has also made it clear that it doesn’t want empty talks with North Korea and that all options, including military measures, remain on the table.

Chung Eui-yong, South Korea’s presidential national security director, said after returning from North Korea on Tuesday that the two Koreas agreed to hold their summit at a tense border village in late April. He also said the leaders will establish a “hotline” communication channel between them to lower military tensions, and would speak together before the planned summit.

Chung led a 10-member South Korean delegation that met with Kim during a two-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital. They were the first South Korean officials to meet the young North Korean leader since he took power after his dictator father’s death in late 2011. Chung’s trip also was the first known high-level visit by South Korean officials to North Korea in about 11 years.

The Koreas are to hold working-level talks ahead of the summit between Kim and liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in. If realized, it would be the third-ever such a meeting since the Koreas’ 1945 division. The two past summits, in 2000 and 2007, were both held in Pyongyang between Kim’s late father, Kim Jong Il, and two liberal South Korean presidents. They resulted in a series of cooperative projects that were scuttled during subsequent conservative administrations in South Korea.

Chung said North Korea also expressed willingness to hold a “candid dialogue” with the United States to discuss its nuclear disarmament and establish diplomatic relations. While such talks with the United States are underway, Chung said North Korea “made it clear that it won’t resume strategic provocations like additional nuclear tests or test-launches of ballistic missiles.”

North Korea also said it would not need to keep its nuclear weapons if military threats against it are removed and it receives a credible security guarantee, Chung said. He said the North promised not to use its nuclear and conventional weapons against South Korea.

Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at South Korea’s Sejong Institute said the agreements “potentially pave the way for meaningful dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang” and offer an opportunity to stably manage the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapon and missile programs.

“Getting North Korea to agree to halt additional nuclear weapons and missile tests while the dialogue goes on is the biggest achievement of the visit to Pyongyang by the South Korean presidential envoys,” he said.</s>Update 6pm: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has expressed a willingness to discuss nuclear disarmament with the US and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests during such talks, a senior South Korean official has said.

Mr Kim also agreed to meet South Korea's president at a tense border village in late April, presidential national security director Chung Eui-yong said after talks with Mr Kim in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital.

The North's reported willingness to hold a "candid dialogue" with the US to discuss denuclearisation and establish diplomatic relations follows a year of increased fears of war on the Korean peninsula, with Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump exchanging fiery rhetoric and crude insults over Mr Kim's barrage of weapons tests.

The Trump administration also pushed through some of the harshest sanctions the already hugely sanctioned North has yet faced.

Mr Trump tweeted that "possible progress" was being made in the talks with North Korea, and that all sides were making serious efforts.

He added: "May be false hope, but the US is ready to go hard in either direction!"

There is still scepticism whether the developments will help establish genuine peace between the Koreas, which have a long history of failing to follow through with major agreements.

The US has made it clear it does not want empty talks with North Korea and that all options, including military measures, remain on the table.

The North has repeatedly said in the past that it will not negotiate over its nuclear programme and vowed to bolster its nuclear and missile arsenals.

Its apparent about-face might be an attempt to win concessions as its economy struggles under the weight of sanctions, some analysts said, or a way to buy time to better develop nuclear missiles targeting the mainland US.

Many experts believe North Korea will not easily give up a nuclear programme it has doggedly developed, despite years of escalating international pressure, to cope with what it claims is US hostility.

Mr Chung led a 10-member South Korean delegation on a two-day visit to North Korea. They were the first South Korean officials to meet the young North Korean leader since he took power after his dictator father's death in late 2011.

The trip also was the first known high-level visit by South Korean officials to the North in about 11 years.

It followed a series of co-operative steps taken by the Koreas during last month's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics hosted by South Korea.

If talks with the US happen, Mr Chung said North Korea "made it clear that it won't resume strategic provocations like additional nuclear tests or test-launches of ballistic missiles" while the talks continue.

Pyongyang told the South Korean envoys it would not need to keep its nuclear weapons if military threats against it are removed and it receives a credible security guarantee, Mr Chung said.

He said the North promised not to use its nuclear and conventional weapons against South Korea.

Mr Kim also said he "understands" that contentious annual military drills by the US and South Korea will take place in April at a scale similar to previous years and expressed hope they could be modified once the situation on the Korean peninsula stabilises, according to a senior South Korean presidential official.

Mr Chung said the two Koreas agreed to hold their summit at a Seoul-controlled facility inside the border village. He also said Mr Kim and liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in will establish a "hotline" communication channel between them to lower military tensions, and would speak together before the planned summit.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, front right, shakes hands with South Korean National Security Director Chung Eui-yong. Pic: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has agreed to hold a landmark summit with South Korea's president and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests if his country holds talks with the US, a senior Seoul official said.

Chung Eui-yong, South Korea's presidential national security director, said the two Koreas agreed to hold their third-ever summit at a tense border village in late April.

He also said the leaders will establish a "hotline" communication channel to lower military tensions, and would speak together before the planned summit.

Mr Chung led a 10-member South Korean delegation that met Mr Kim during a two-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital. They returned on Tuesday.

The agreements follow a flurry of co-operative steps taken by the Koreas during last month's Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea.

Tensions had run high during the previous year because of a barrage of North Korean weapons tests.

The two past summits, in 2000 and 2007, were held between Mr Kim's late father, Kim Jong Il, and two liberal South Korean presidents.

They resulted in a series of co-operative projects between the Koreas that were scuttled during subsequent conservative administrations in South Korea.

Mr Chung said North Korea had agreed to suspend nuclear and missile tests for as long as it holds talks with the US.

Pyongyang also made it clear it would not need to keep its nuclear weapons if military threats against it are removed and it receives a credible security guarantee, Mr Chung said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had an "openhearted talk" in Pyongyang with envoys for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the North said on Tuesday.

It is the first time South Korean officials have met with the young North Korean leader in person since he took power after his dictator father's death in late 2011 - and the latest sign that the Koreas are trying to mend ties after a year of repeated North Korean weapons tests and threats of nuclear war.

North Korea's state media said Mr Kim expressed his desire to "write a new history of national reunification" during a dinner on Monday night that Seoul said lasted about four hours.

Given the robust history of bloodshed, threats and animosity on the Korean Peninsula, there is considerable scepticism over whether the Koreas' apparent warming relations will lead to lasting peace.

North Korea, some believe, is trying to use improved ties with the South to weaken US-led international sanctions and pressure, and to provide domestic propaganda fodder for Mr Kim.

But each new development also raises the possibility that the rivals can use the momentum from the good feelings created during North Korea's participation in the South's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics last month to ease a standoff over North Korea's nuclear ambitions and restart talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

The North Korean report sought to make Mr Kim look statesmanlike as he welcomed the visiting South Koreans, with Mr Kim offering views on "activating the versatile dialogue, contact, cooperation and exchange".

He was also said to have given "important instruction to the relevant field to rapidly take practical steps for" a summit with Mr Moon, which the North proposed last month.

Mr Moon, a liberal who is keen to engage the North, likely wants to visit Pyongyang. But he must first broker better ties between the North and Washington, which is Seoul's top ally and its military protector.

The role of a confident leader welcoming visiting, and lower-ranking, officials from the rival South is one Mr Kim clearly relishes. Smiling for cameras, he posed with the South Koreans and presided over what was described as a "co-patriotic and sincere atmosphere".

Many in Seoul and Washington will want to know if, the rhetoric and smiling images notwithstanding, there is any possibility Mr Kim will negotiate over the North's breakneck pursuit of an arsenal of nuclear missiles that can viably target the US mainland.

The North has repeatedly and bluntly declared it will not give up its nuclear bombs. It also hates the annual US-South Korean military exercises that were postponed because of the Olympics but will likely happen later this spring. And achieving its nuclear aims rests on the North resuming tests of missiles and bombs that set the region on edge.

Photos distributed by the North showed a beaming Mr Kim dressed in a dark Mao-style suit and holding hands with Mr Moon's national security director, Chung Eui-yong, the leader of the 10-member South Korean delegation. Mr Chung's trip is the first known high-level visit by South Korean officials to the North in about a decade.

The South Korean delegates have another meeting with North Korean officials on Tuesday before returning home, but it is unclear if Mr Kim will be there.

He was said to have expressed at the dinner his "firm will to vigorously advance the north-south relations and write a new history of national reunification by the concerted efforts of our nation to be proud of in the world".</s>A delegation of 10 officials from the South will visit their neighbour to try and persuade them to discuss reducing nuclear weapons programme. After a turbulent 2017, relations between the two Koreas has increased since the start of the year. Baik Tae-hyun, a spokesman for the Unification Minister, said: “I understand the delegation's visit is geared towards prompting talks between the United States and North Korea for progress in denuclearising the Korean peninsula. “In that regard, we hope a positive atmosphere will be created.”

President Donald Trump had expressed his desire to start negotiation with the hermit state, leading to hope of a break through in relations between the two countries. A statement from the White House released earlier this week said: “We will see if Pyongyang's message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearisation. "In the meantime, the United States and the world must continue to make clear that North Korea's nuclear and missile programs are a dead end.” The new sanctions have sparked outrage in Pyongyang.

However, the US leader’s precondition that Kim Jong-un denuclearise before negotiations begin has been met with a frosty reception in Pyongyang. A spokesman for the foreign ministry of North Korea warned: “In decades-long history of the DPRK-US [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] talks, there had been no case at all where we sat with the US on any precondition and this will be the case in future too. “The US attitude shown after we clarified our intention for DPRK-US dialogue compels us to only think that the US is not interred in resuming DPRK-US dialogue.”

The news comes the day after North Korea unleashed fury at Trump’s plans for joint military drills with South Korea. The promising a “dark cloud of war” should he persist. It is hoped South Korea’s visit to the North will help convince the country to sit down with the US.

“In addition, I plan to hold in-depth discussions on various ways to continue talks between not only the South and the North, but also the North and the United States and the international community.” The trip to Pyongyang is the South’s chance to reciprocate a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister, Yo-jong, who visited the winter games. “In addition, I plan to hold in-depth discussions on various ways to continue talks between not only the South and the North, but also the North and the United States and the international community.” The trip to Pyongyang is the South’s chance to reciprocate a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister, Yo-jong, who visited the winter games.
South Korea states that North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States on denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.