Moon, Kim hold first round of summit talks in Pyongyang

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held their first round of talks Tuesday in a historic summit largely aimed at restarting U.S-North Korea talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Moon arrived in Pyongyang on a direct flight from Seoul for a three-day visit, becoming the third South Korean leader in history to have visited the North Korean capital.

The third Moon-Kim meeting was held at the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.

Yoon Young-chan, the senior secretary to President Moon for public relations, noted it marked the first time the North Korean leader had hosted any foreign leader at the office of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party.

The two leaders first met in the border village of Panmunjom on April 27, then again on May 26 in the joint village that sits directly on the countries' heavily fortified border.

Moon said his goal was to break a deadlock in denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea.

"(My) North Korea trip would have a great meaning if it could lead to the resumption of North Korea-U.S. dialogue," Moon was quoted as saying before heading to Pyongyang earlier in the day.

The U.S.-North Korea talks have stalled after U.S. President Donald Trump called off a scheduled trip to North Korea by his top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing what he called a lack of progress in the North's denuclearization process.

The North Korean leader has argued his country has taken many significant and irreversible measures that left the country unable to stage any more nuclear or missile tests.

The South Korean president earlier stressed the need to find an intersecting point between the two.

Also on the agenda are further reduction of military tension between the divided Koreas and improvement in their bilateral relations, which Moon says will help promote and even accelerate the North's denuclearization process.

More than a dozen top South Korean business leaders are accompanying the president.

According to officials from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, they will likely offer a glimpse of the economic cooperation and assistance for a denuclearized North Korea that Seoul could provide.

No new economic cooperation projects will be offered to the North during Moon's three-day trip to Pyongyang, Yoon told a press briefing in Seoul.

Moon was set to attend a welcome dinner later Tuesday that could possibly be hosted by the North Korean leader.

He and Kim will meet again early Wednesday for a second round of talks.

Depending on the outcome of their talks, the two leaders may hold a joint press conference in Pyongyang to announce the outcome of their summit, Cheong Wa Dae officials have said.

Moon will return home Thursday.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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