South Korean President Moon Jae In arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday as he began a three-day visit to North Korea for a summit with leader Kim Jong Un, with all eyes on whether their latest summit will see a breakthrough in stalled talks on denuclearizing the divided peninsula.
The two leaders, who have already held talks twice this year, are expected to exchange views on how to achieve nuclear disarmament and ease military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with Moon pledging to serve as a broker between Washington and Pyongyang.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump wants Moon to gain some concessions from North Korea, which has still shied away from specifying concrete measures to get rid of its nuclear weapons, foreign affairs experts say.
In their telephone conversation on Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Hwa and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that the two nations will continue to cooperate to attain denuclearization and ensure peace on the peninsula, Seoul said.
Moon, the first South Korean president to visit North Korea in 11 years, is scheduled to return to Seoul on Thursday morning after holding talks as well as having lunch and dinner with Kim in Pyongyang.
Moon left for Pyongyang around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, flying directly from Seouls Seongnam Air Base, along with more than 100 other delegates and staff members, including top business leaders.
The plane carrying Moon and his entourage later arrived at an airport in Pyongyang as a throng of North Koreans waited on the tarmac to welcome the South Korean leader, footage broadcast live to South Korea from the airport showed.
Trump, however, has been skeptical about whether Kim is serious about realizing the goal. Signaling that relations between Washington and Pyongyang remain turbulent, the U.S. president nixed a planned trip to North Korea by Pompeo late last month.
Reference: Kim Jong Un voices hope for better ties with U.S. at inter-Korean summit
