ROK president's special envoys return from DPRK

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The Republic of Korea (ROK) President Moon Jae-in's special envoys returned home Tuesday afternoon after making a two-day visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The plane carrying the 10-member special delegation arrived at an airport in Seongnam, outside of Seoul, at about 6:00 p.m. local time, reported a local TV.

The delegation, led by Chung Eui-yong, top national security adviser for Moon, had a meeting and dinner with top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un for over four hours in Pyongyang on Monday night.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un hosts dinner for a ROK delegation led by ROK's national security adviser Chung Eui-yong in Pyongyang, DPRK, March 5, 2018. /VCG Photo

Chung was accompanied by Suh Hoon, director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the country's spy agency, Chun Hae-sung, vice unification minister, Kim Sang-gyun, second deputy NIS director, Yun Kun-young, a high-level Blue House official and five working-level officials.

The leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un and envoys from the ROK discussed a possible summit between Kim and ROK President Moon Jae-in, both sides said Tuesday, in the latest step of an Olympics-driven rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula.

It is Seoul's most senior delegation to travel to the DPRK for more than a decade, and comes as Moon tries to broker talks between Pyongyang and Washington, after months of high tensions.

"Hearing the intention of President Moon Jae-in for a summit from the special envoy of the south side, he exchanged views and made a satisfactory agreement," KCNA said of the DPRK leader.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un (R) met on March 5 with the most senior ROK officials to have traveled to Pyongyang in more than a decade. /AFP Photo

Seoul, however, said no agreement had yet been reached on a meeting between Kim and Moon, which would be the first such summit since 2007.

The two sides have "discussed" it and "somewhat shared the view" on other points, an official from the ROK's presidential Blue House said.

KCNA said Kim "warmly welcomed" the ROK officials, who handed over a letter from Moon.

"He also made an exchange of in-depth views on the issues for easing the acute military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and activating the versatile dialogue, contact, cooperation and exchange," it reported.

The tense relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have seen signs of easing in the lead-up to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics after Kim expressed the DPRK’s willingness to join the sports event and said he was open to dialogue with the ROK during his New Year’s speech.

A meeting between the two sides in January, the first in almost two years, saw athletes from the DPRK and ROK marching under a unified flag of the Korean Peninsula in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The Winter Olympics provided "a good atmosphere of reconciliation, unity and dialogue between the north and the south," KCNA quoted Kim as telling the ROK envoys.

Moon has sought to use the PyeongChang Games to open dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang in hopes of easing a nuclear standoff that has heightened fears over global security.

Before leaving for Pyongyang, Chung said: "We plan to hold in-depth discussions for ways to continue not only inter-Korean talks but dialogue between the DPRK and the international community including the United States."

(With input from AFP and Xinhua News Agency)

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