Kim Jong-un to walk across Korea border

Summit with South to start on historic note

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jongun will walk across the border between the two Koreas to attend the historic inter-Korean summit today, according to a schedule announced by South Korea for the talks aimed at addressing denuclearisation issues.

Mr Kim will become the first North Korean ruler to cross the border separating the two technically warring countries, as the 1950-53 Korean War only ended in a cease-fire. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will greet him there and the two will start their official meeting from around 10.30 am.

“Above everything else, denuclearisation and establishing a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula is the focus of the summit,” Im Jong-seok, chairman of the summit preparation committee, said as he announced the schedule to reporters, adding that an agreement between the leaders is expected to be signed the same day.

The agreement could include a reference to North Korea’s commitment to denuclearise, as has been hinted in recent months, which South Korea apparently hopes to include in the document in order to lay the groundwork for the envisioned summit between Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump by early June.

Mr Im said it is up to Mr Moon and Mr Kim to come to a consensus on North Korea’s denuclearisation.

Before the summit talks start inside a South Korean facility known as Peace House in the truce village of Panmunjeom, Mr Kim will review the South Korean military’s honour guard near the building.

In past inter-Korea summit talks held in Pyongyang in 2000 and 2007, then South Korean leaders similarly inspected North Korean honour guards, according to Im.

The latest summit talks will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions. Between the sessions, the two leaders will take lunch separately and later get together to jointly plant a commemorative pine tree on the Military Demarcation Line — a symbol of confrontation and division since the Korean War.

A pine is a “tree beloved by the Korean people” and a mixture of soil taken from the highest mountains of both countries will be used in the planting, according to Mr Im. The two leaders will wet the roots of the freshly planted tree with water from rivers flowing through their capitals, in a gesture of hope for peace and prosperity.

After the tree-planting ceremony, they will take a stroll around the area and continue their talks. The two leaders will have dinner together from 6.30pm, to be followed by a farewell ceremony.

Mr Im said it has not yet been decided whether Mr Kim’s wife Ri Sol-ju will travel with her husband, but added the South Korean government is “hoping that she will be able to attend the afternoon programme or dinner”.

Delegates from North Korea will include ceremonial leader Kim Yongnam and Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s sister and close aide who serves as the first vice department director of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party.