ROK president's envoys meet DPRK top leader in Pyongyang

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Republic of Korea (ROK) President Moon Jae-in's special envoys met Wednesday with Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in their one-day visit to Pyongyang, the presidential Blue House of the ROK said.

The delegation delivered Moon's letter to Kim, exchanging opinions on the Korean Peninsula situations, according to the Blue House.

The Blue House planned to hold a press briefing Thursday on the outcome of the special envoys' visit to Pyongyang.

Moon's special envoys went to Pyongyang to finalize details on the third inter-Korean summit to be held this month amid stalled talks on denuclearization between the DPRK and the United States.

Presidential envoy Chung Eui-yong (C, front) and his delegation head to their plane to DPRK at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on Sept. 5, 2018. /VCG Photo

ROK officials hope the one-day visit will revive momentum after a broad but unspecific agreement on denuclearization between the United States and the DPRK at a Singapore summit in June.

The talks have stalled since US President Donald Trump cancelled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to the DPRK last month.

ROK President Moon Jae-in's special envoys were led by the national security chief at the presidential Blue House, Chung Eui-young, and included director of the National Intelligence Service spy agency, Suh Hoon.

The envoys were greeted in Pyongyang by Ri Son Gwon, chairman of a DPRK's committee in charge of cross-border affairs, who has steered high-level inter-Korean talks, according to Blue House press secretary Yoon Young-chan.

Chung Eui-yong, head of the presidential National Security Office, and other delegators pose before boarding an aircraft as they leave for Pyongyang at a military airport on Sept. 5, 2018 in Seoungnam, South Korea. /VCG Photo

They held a 20-minute meeting with Ri and Kim Yong Chol, who played a key role with Pompeo in arranging the Singapore summit, Yoon said without elaborating.

Additional talks are expected to take place between the Seoul and Pyongyang officials, but it was not certain that the envoys would meet DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un, Yoon said. Kim met the South's delegation on their previous trip in March.

"The delegation was on the way for an official meeting but they did not inform whom they'll meet and where," Yoon said in a statement.

The United States and DPRK are at odds over whether denuclearization or a step towards the normalization of DPRK's international status by declaring the end of the 1950-53 Korean War should come first.

The war was ended by an armistice, not a peace treaty, meaning US-led United Nations forces, including ROK, are technically still at war with the DPRK.

A plane carrying a presidential envoy delegation to the DPRK takes off from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, south of Seoul, South Korea on Sept. 5, 2018. /VCG Photo

Chung said on Tuesday he wanted to discuss with Pyongyang officials ways to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Seoul would also continue to push for a joint declaration with the United States of an end to the Korean war this year, Chung said.

The United States wants DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons without condition.

Pyongyang is preparing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK on Sunday.

(Cover: A South Korean special delegation led by national security chief Chung Eui-yong (second from right), leaves for Pyongyang from an airport in Sungnam, Republic of Korea, on Wednesday. /Reuters Photo)

Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency