Rival Koreas discuss a new leaders’ summit in North

A SENIOR North Korean official suggested yesterday that the leaders of North and South Korea may meet in Pyongyang, as envoys from the rival nations discussed setting a summit date and venue amid an ongoing nuclear standoff.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who first met in April in a highly publicised summit and then again in May for more informal talks, previously agreed to meet again in the autumn in Pyongyang but released no concrete details.

“The discussions about the North and South Korea leaders’ meeting in Pyongyang are underway,” Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs, told the South Korean delegation in opening remarks yesterday. Mr Ri (pictured left with South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-Gyon), compared the Koreas to very close friends with an unbreakable bond.

The meeting at a North Korea-controlled building in the border village of Panmunjom comes amid growing worries about whether North Korea will begin abandoning its nuclear weapons, something officials suggested would happen after Mr Kim’s summit with US President Donald Trump in June in Singapore.