Graphic: A history of Inter-Korean summits
CGTN
["china"]
Leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Republic of Korea (ROK) will hold their first meeting in over a decade on April 27 as tensions on the Korean Peninsula slowly ease following rapprochement between the two countries starting early 2018.
The denuclearization of the peninsula and improvement of inter-Korean relations, which reached a boiling point last year, are on the agenda, Seoul said on Thursday.
The meeting between the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and ROK President Moon Jae-in will take place at the border truce village of Panmunjom.
The two sides are still technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a truce.
The upcoming leaders’ summit will be the third such meeting between Seoul and Pyongyang, with the first two taking place in Pyongyang.
In June 2000, late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong Un, met late ROK President Kim Dae-jung.
The two sides adopted the June 15th Joint Declaration, which reignited the hope for national reunification. The declaration led to several rounds of reunions of families divided by the Korean War.
The two sides held ministerial-level talks and military working-level talks four times in Pyongyang, Seoul and Jeju Island from July to December 2000. They also held three Red Cross talks and discussed economic cooperation.
In October 2007, Kim Jong Il and late ROK President Roh Moo-hyun met in Pyongyang. The two leaders signed a peace deal and pledged to work toward forging a permanent peace treaty to replace the armistice.
They said the meeting confirmed efforts to denuclearize the DPRK. They also agreed to designate a joint fishing area and economic zone along the disputed western sea border, which witnessed bloody naval clashes that broke out in 1999 and 2002.
Ahead of the leaders' meeting, Roh became the first ROK leader to walk across the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone on the border. His predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, flew to Pyongyang for the first meeting in 2000.