Two Koreas to hold summit as Kim renews denuclearisation pledge
SEOUL: The leaders of the two Koreas will hold a summit in Pyongyang in September, Seoul said yesterday, as Kim Jong Un renewed his commitment to the denuclearisation of the flashpoint peninsula.
The announcement of the Sept 18-20 summit – the third between the North’s leader Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in this year – comes as US efforts to dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal have stalled.
The two leaders will meet in the North Korean capital to discuss ‘ practical measures to denuclearise’ the peninsula, South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong told reporters.
Chung flew to Pyongyang where he handed over a personal letter from Moon to Kim, as Seoul seeks to kick- start the diplomacy that led to the landmark June summit between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader.
The two pledged to denuclearise the Korean peninsula at the Singapore meeting but no details were agreed, and Washington and Pyongyang have sparred since on what that means and how it will be achieved. However, in his meeting with Chung, Kim renewed his commitment to that goal, North Korean state media said yesterday.
The two Koreas “should further their efforts to realise the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.
“It is our fixed stand ... to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat.”
The pledge comes after Trump, frustrated with a lack of progress on disarmament, last month cancelled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang after the North reportedly sent a belligerent letter to the US leader.
Stephen Biegun, newlyappointed US envoy for the North, said last month Kim had promised ‘ final, fully verified denuclearisation’ at the Singapore summit. But Pyongyang has slammed the Washington for its ‘gangster- like’ demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament.
Kim emphasised that his “trust in Trump remains unchanged” despite the difficulties, Chung said, and expressed his intention to work closely with the US to achieve denuclearisation ‘in the first official term of President Trump.’
But the North Korean leader also expressed a ‘sense of frustration’ with the international community for not appreciating what he called Pyongyang’s ‘very significant and meaningful’ steps, Chung said.
Kim noted the North had dismantled its nuclear test site in Punggye- ri, where nuclear tests ‘have been made impossible for good’, according to the South Korean envoy.
“Chairman Kim asked us to convey the message to the US that the US (should) help create situations where he would feel his decision to denuclearise was a right move”, Chung said.
Chung also conveyed a message from Trump to Kim, a presidential spokesman said, without elaborating. The upcoming summit between Kim and Moon may help break the months- long deadlock after the Singapore summit, said Lim Eulchul, professor at Kyungnam University’s Graduate School of North Korean Studies.