Moon meets N. Korean delegate in PyeongChang

SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a meeting with North Korea's chief delegate to the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on Sunday, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.

The previously unannounced meeting was held in PyeongChang, the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games located some 180 kilometers east of Seoul.

The meeting came only hours after the eight-member North Korean delegation crossed the inter-Korean border to attend the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, set to begin at 8 p.m.

It marked Moon's second meeting with North Korean officials in just about two weeks. He held talks at his office Cheong Wa Dae on Feb. 10 with a delegation which was led by the communist state's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam and included leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong.

Sunday's meeting came as a surprise as the latest North Korean delegation is headed by Kim Yong-chol, a highly decorated military general suspected of having masterminded the North's sinking of a South Korean warship, Cheonan, in March 2010 that left 46 South Korean sailors dead.

Kim currently is in charge of inter-Korean affairs, according to officials here.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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