ROK to mark first Moon-Kim summit anniversary

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The Republic of Korea (ROK) will hold a ceremony this week to mark the anniversary of last year's first summit between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), though DPRK's participation at the event remains uncertain, the unification ministry said.

Artists from four countries -- ROK, the United States, Japan, and China -- will perform at the border village of Panmunjom on Saturday to mark the anniversary, according to the ministry.

Moon and Kim held their first summit in April last year, also the first between the two countries in over a decade.

People watch news of the first Moon-Kim summit at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, April 27, 2018. /Xinhua photo

Awaiting DRPK confirmation

The ministry said it will invite some 500 guests, including foreign diplomats, politicians, officials from the United Nations Command and residents of Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province, to the event that will also be broadcast live nationwide.

Yet whether the DPRK will participate in the event remains unclear amid a deadlock in their nuclear negotiations with Washington.

"We plan to notify the North of the event at an appropriate time," a ministry official said Sunday, adding that it had not delivered the notice yet.

The summit, followed by summits

The Moon-Kim meeting, also the third inter-Korean summit, came 11 years after a previous one at a time of warming ties between the two countries following initiatives by both Seoul and Pyongyang and other related parties of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

Kim Jong Un walks cross the Military Demarcation Line with Moon Jae-in at the border village of Panmunjom, April 27, 2018. /Xinhua photo

When they first met, Kim walked across the Military Demarcation Line, making him the first DPRK leader to step onto ROK soil after the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

After their formal, closed-door talks at the border village of Panmunjom, the two leaders pledged to end the Koran War and reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a joint declaration.

The summit was later followed by two inter-Korean summits and the DPRK leader's historic meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Last week Moon said he is willing to go anywhere to meet Kim for a fourth summit.

"As soon as North Korea (the DPRK) is ready, I hope the two Koreas will be able to sit down together, regardless of venue and form," Moon said after Moon's brief summit with Trump.

(Cover image: ROK President Moon Jae-in and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un exchange their bipartite copies of a joint declaration at Peace House on the ROK side of Panmunjom, on April 27, 2018. /Xinhua photo)

(With inputs from Xinhua, Yonhap)