Moon envoy meets Kim amid impasse

A HIGH-LEVEL South Korean delegation met with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang yesterday, as Seoul plans a new summit with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s leader to break a deadlock in denuclearization talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy Chung Eui-yong, who led the five-member delegation, earlier said he would discuss ways to “completely denuclearize” the Korean Peninsula and establish “lasting peace.”

His delegation “met with Chairman Kim Jong Un and delivered a personal letter (from Moon) and exchanged opinions,” a presidential office spokesman in Seoul said.

The delegation flew back to Seoul after attending a dinner banquet but Chung and other officials declined to speak to the media. Details about their trip will be given during a press briefing today.

US President Donald Trump and Kim reached a vague agreement at a landmark summit in June to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but there has been little movement since.

Talks reached an impasse last month when Trump abruptly canceled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to the DPRK, citing lack of progress.

The stated aim of the South Korean delegation’s daylong visit to Pyongyang was to finalize details of a third summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, due later this month.

But observers said Moon’s personal letter to Kim will likely be a proposal aimed at breaking the denuclearization impasse.

Despite the deadlock with the DPRK, Trump expressed his hopes for the success of the next inter-Korean summit in a phone conversation with Moon on Tuesday.

Pyongyang has slammed Washington’s “gangsterlike” demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament, and accused it of failing to reciprocate the DPRK’s “goodwill measures,” including the handover of the remains of US troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.