Kim invites SoKor president for summit
SEOUL/PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang “at an early date,” South Korean officials said on Saturday, potentially setting up the first meeting of Korean leaders in more than 10 years.
Any meeting would represent a diplomatic coup for Moon, who swept to power last year on a policy of engaging more with the reclusive North.
The recent detente, anchored by South Korea’s hosting of the Winter Olympic Games, came despite an acceleration in the North’s weapons program last year and pressure from Seoul’s allies in Washington.
The invitation came during talks and a lunch Moon hosted with Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of the North Korean leader, at the presidential Blue House in Seoul.
Kim Jong Un wanted to meet Moon “at an early date”, a spokesman for the Blue House said. Moon had said “let’s create con- ditions to make it happen”, the official said, an indication that Moon was likely to accept the invitation.
Kim Yo Jong arrived in South Korea on Friday with Kim Yong Nam, the North’s nominal head of state, for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in the alpine resort town of Pyeongchang.
They shook hands with Moon and cheered for athletes from the two countries who marched under a unified peninsula flag for the first time in a decade.
Some North Korean experts believe tough U.N. sanctions that are cutting off most of the isolated North’s sources of revenue have added pressure on Pyongyang to engage further with Seoul.
“I think this overture towards South Korea is partly sanctions-related, and also related to the fact that it’s clear a divergence has developed between Washington and Seoul’s most keenly desired goals in the near term,” said Andray Abrahamian, a research fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS in Hawaii.
“The North Koreans should understand that for a summit or any kind of serious talks to occur, Moon needs to be able to take something to Washington - something that addresses denuclearization,” he said before the North’s invitation to Moon was announced.
Moon’s desire to engage North Korea was in contrast to his U.S. ally.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence also attended the Games opening ceremony but had no contact with the North Korean delegation.
North and South Korea are technically still at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. The United States fought with South Korea and maintains tens of thousands of troops and an “ironclad” agreement to protect its ally.