South Korean envoys cross the border for weapons talks
SOUTH Korea is to send its national security chief to Pyongyang today to discuss how to resume dialogue between the US and North Korea over its nuclear and weapons programme.
Moon Jae-in, the South’s president, announced yesterday that Chung Euiyong, head of the National Security Office, and Suh Hoon, his intelligence chief, would lead a 10-member delegation on a two-day trip to the North.
The envoys will deliver a letter from Mr Moon to Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, although it is still uncertain if they will meet with him personally. It would be the first time Kim had met with a South Korean official since he came to power in 2011.
The delegation is expected to hold talks that would pave the way for a possible summit meeting between the leaders of South and North Korea after Mr Kim last month invited Mr Moon to visit Pyongyang.
The envoys are “expected to hold talks with North Korea’s high level officials to discuss ways to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and develop the South-north Korea relationship,” Yoon Young-chan, the presidential chief press secretary said.
“Especially, [the delegation] will hold discussions on the creation of conditions for North Korea-us dialogue aimed at de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,” he added, according to Yonhap, the South Korea news agency.
Mr Moon told Donald Trump, the US president, on Thursday of his intention to send his officials to Pyongyang. The envoys will travel to the US immediately after their trip to North Korea, to debrief their US counterparts.
The US administration remains sceptical about North Korea’s intentions but Mr Trump indicated last week that “we want to talk” but “only under the right conditions”, creating a sliver of hope of a diplomatic resolution to tensions.