South Korean envoy has meeting with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang
SEOUL, South Korea — Top aides of President Moon Jae-in of South Korea arrived in North Korea on Monday and met its leader, Kim Jong Un, moving to improve inter-Korean relations and help start a dialogue between the North and the United States.
Mr. Moon’s national security adviser, Chung Euiyong, and the director of the National Intelligence Service, Suh Hoon, were the first South Korean officials to meet Mr. Kim since he took power six years ago, a spokesman for Mr. Moon said. The two hope to learn directly from Mr. Kim whether the North is interested in negotiating an end to his nuclear weapons program through a dialogue with the United States.
Mr. Chung and Mr. Suh — the first known high-level South Korean officials to visit the North in about a decade — arrived in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, Monday afternoon and were said to be carrying a letter from Mr. Moon to Mr. Kim.
After arriving, the South Korean envoys were invited to a meeting with Mr. Kim, Mr. Moon’s spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom, said during a news conference in Seoul, the South Korean capital. Kim Jong Un was also hosting a dinner for the men, the first South Korean envoys to visit his country in 11 years, the spokesman said.
Mr. Moon and Mr. Kim have both said they want to use an opening created by the North’s participation in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, last month to improve inte-rKorean ties.
But Washington remains deeply skeptical of any such attempt by the South without any progress in international efforts to end the North’s nuclear weapons program. Although he advocates dialogue with North Korea, Mr. Moon acknowledges that those two sets of efforts must move “in parallel” and has been urging the United States and North Korea to start negotiations on the nuclear program.
After returning home from Pyongyang, the South Korean envoy will fly to Washington for follow-up discussions with the Trump administration. If North Korea shows a willingness to disarm during the visit by the South Koreans, there is speculation that it and Washington could set up their own talks on the North’s nuclear weapons.