Koreas aim for end of war this year

Moon, Kim say will work towards denuclearisation of Korean peninsula

The leaders of North and South Korea embraced on Friday and pledged to work for the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula” on a day of smiles and handshakes at the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade.

The two Koreas announced they would work with the US and China this year to declare an official end to the 1950s Korean War.

But their commitments were short on specifics and failed to clear up key questions about Pyongyang’s intentions ahead of an even more critical summit with US President Donald Trump that is expected in coming weeks.

The declaration from the meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un included promises to pursue phased arms reduction, cease hostile acts, transform their fortified border into a peace zone and seek multilateral talks with other countries including the US.

“The two leaders declare before our people of 80 million and the entire world there will be no more war on the Korean peninsula and a new age of peace has begun,” the two sides said.

The summit was held at the village of Panmunjom in the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone at the border that has divided the Koreas for more than six decades.

But even as the Koreas agreed on a common goal of a “nuclearfree” peninsula, they stopped short of spelling out how that might come about.

The Trump administration defines “denuclearisation” as Kim giving up his nuclear arsenal, something he has been unwilling to do. North Korea has historically demanded the United States withdraw its troops and remove its “nuclear umbrella” of support for the South.

Moon agreed to visit the North Korean capital of Pyongyang this year, the leaders said.

Earlier, Kim became the first North Korean leader since the 1950-53 Korean War to set foot in South Korea after shaking hands with his counterpart over a concrete curb marking the border.

Scenes of Moon and Kim joking and walking together marked a striking contrast to last year’s barrage of North Korean missile tests and its largest ever nuclear test that led to sweeping international sanctions and fears of war.

China, North Korea’s main ally, welcomed the leaders’ statement and said it was willing to keep playing a proactive role in promoting political solutions. China is wary of being sidelined by a thaw between the two Koreas and by the upcoming summit between Trump and Kim.

Russia said it was ready to facilitate cooperation between North and South Korea, including in the fields of railway transport and energy.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also welcomed the summit and said he expected North Korea to take concrete steps to carry out its promises.

Days before the summit, Kim said North Korea would suspend nuclear and long-range missile tests and dismantle its only known nuclear test site.

But there has been widespread scepticism about whether Kim is ready to abandon the nuclear arsenal his country has developed for decades, justifying it as a necessary deterrent against US invasion. And the North-South summit did little to answer questions about Kim’s intentions.