North Korea gives Moon rapturous welcome
MOON JAE-IN, the South Korean president, was greeted by hordes of ecstatic North Koreans lining the streets of Pyongyang and chanting for reunification yesterday as he arrived for a highstakes visit to salvage nuclear diplomacy talks.
His third summit meeting with Kim Jong-un this year began on a positive note when the two leaders exchanged smiles and embraced at the airport.
The three-day meeting marks the first trip of a South Korean leader to the North Korean capital in 11 years and Mr Moon has been accompanied by his wife, Kim Jung-sook, and a delegation of more than 100 senior business executives and cultural personalities.
Denuclearisation talks have reached a halt just three months after Kim’s meeting with Donald Trump, the US president, in Singapore, as North Korea is pushing for a peace declaration with Washington before it takes steps towards giving up its nuclear weapons.
With neither side willing to make the first move, Moon has assumed the role of mediator and will try to pave the way this week for a second summit between Kim and Mr Trump.
Yesterday, Kim said that Mr Moon had helped improve North Korea’s relations with the US, while Mr Moon told Kim that he respected his push to “open a new era” of cooperation.
Kim and President Moon are scheduled to hold a press conference today, although it is expected to centre on incremental moves towards peace rather than on grand gestures or declarations.