South and North Korea agree to hold joint summit
March 6, 2018
South Korea on Tuesday said it has agreed with North Korea to hold a joint summit in late April and to set up a telephone hotline between their leaders.
South Korea's presidential national security director, Chung Eui-yong, also said the North had agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons if military threats against the country were resolved and if it received a credible security guarantee.
The talks will take place at the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the Panmunjom border village and will be the first North-South summit in more than a decade.
Read more: Top South Korea security officials talk nuclear in North
Abandoning nuclear tests
Chung said Pyongyang agreed to halt tests of nuclear weapons and missiles if it holds talks with the US and that it was ready to have "heart-to-heart" talks with Washington.
The US talks would focus on potential denuclearization and the normalization of relations between Pyongyang and Washington.
"The North made clear its willingness for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and made clear that there is no reason to own nuclear (programs) if military threats towards the North are cleared and the security of its regime is guaranteed," Chung said.
Envoys lay the groundwork
Five South Korean envoys, including security advisor Chung, met with North Korean leaders in Pyongyang on Monday to lay the groundwork for potential peace talks between the two neighbors and the US.
It was first time North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had met high-ranking officials from the South since taking office in 2011.
Kim reacted positively to the idea of a summit floated at the meeting, both sides said earlier Tuesday.
North Korea's state media KCNA said Kim expressed his desire to "write a new history of national reunification."
There have been recent moves toward rapprochement between the two Koreas, highlighted during the winter Olympics held in the South in February, during which both countries made tentative gestures that they would sanction joint talks.
Both North Korea and the US have said they are willing to hold talks, but Washington's position has been that they must be aimed at North Korea's denuclearization.
North Korea 'acting positively'
US President Donald Trump said North Korea "seems to be acting positively" after Pyongyang's overture to hold denuclearization talks.
"The statements coming out of South Korea and North Korea have been very positive," Trump said.
"We have come a long way at least rhetorically with North Korea. It would be a great thing for the world, it would be a great thing for North Korea, it would be a great thing for the peninsula, but we will see what happens," he said in the Oval Office.
Trump added that the situation on the Korean peninsula could not be allowed to "fester."
Earlier, Trump had tweeted that the progress in talks with North Korea could also be a "false hope."
Chung and the South's intelligence chief Suh Hoon are due to fly to Washington later in the week to brief US officials on their discussions in the North.
aw/jm (Reuters, dpa, AFP, AP)