Korean summit set for Sept. 18, two sides to open joint liaison office in North

Tokyo — South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Pyongyang to meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un on Sept. 18, while the two countries have also agreed to set up a joint liaison office in the North before that date, a top South Korean official said Thursday.

The summit, which will last until Sept. 20, had been planned since last month, but the exact date was set after a team of South Korean envoys traveled to Pyongyang to meet Kim and deliver a letter from Moon on Wednesday.

It will be the third meeting between the two leaders this year, as Moon makes a major effort to improve relations with the North in the hope this will convince Kim scale back or abandon his nuclear arsenal.

It comes despite an impasse in talks between the United States and North Korea, with a planned visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canceled last month.

The summit will discuss the implementation of a joint declaration reached by Moon and Kim when they met in the border village of Panmunjom in April, Director of National Security Chung Eui-yong, who led the team of envoys, said in a statement.

“The discussions at the summit will also be centered around issues on the permanent settlement of peace and common prosperity on the Korean Peninsula as well as, particularly, practical measures to realize denuclearization on the Peninsula,” he said.

“Second, Chairman Kim Jong Un reconfirmed his determination to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and expressed his willingness for close cooperation not only with the South but also with the United States in that regard,” Chung said.