Top South Korean envoy in Pyongyang amid nuclear deadlock

SEOUL (AFP) - A high-level South Korean delegation held talks with officials in the North Wednesday, seeking to arrange a third inter-Korean summit this year and break the deadlock in denuclearization talks.

President Moon Jae-in's special envoy Chung Eui-yong, who is leading the five-member delegation, has said he plans to discuss ways to "completely denuclearize" the Korean peninsula and establish "lasting peace."

A presidential office spokesman in Seoul confirmed that talks had started, but did not provide details.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reached a vague agreement at a landmark summit in June to work towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but there has been little movement since.

Talks reached an impasse last month when Trump abruptly cancelled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to North Korea, citing a lack of progress.

The stated aim of the South Korean delegation's day-long visit to Pyongyang is to finalize details of a third summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, due later this month.

But observers said that Chung, who has said he will deliver a personal letter from Moon to Kim, was thought to be carrying a proposal aimed at breaking the denuclearization impasse.

"The envoy is believed to be carrying a proposal that Kim gives a firm commitment to presenting a list of nuclear weapons and fissile materials demanded by the US in return for a declaration of the end of the Korean war," Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.

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