SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday his planned third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month would be another step towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and an end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

Moon said he hoped for speedy progress in talks between North Korea and the United States to achieve Pyongyang’s complete denuclearization.

He also said he aimed to begin construction of an inter-Korean railway this year, proposing an East Asian railroad community by including the United States, China, Japan, Russia and Mongolia. His remarks were made in a speech marking the 73rd anniversary of the peninsula’s liberation from Japanese rule from 1910-45. </s> SEOUL: Top US, South Korean and Japanese officials have discussed how to achieve a complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula ahead of upcoming inter-Korean and US-North Korean summit talks. Seoul has said previously that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to hold summit talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late April. Seoul says Kim proposed meeting with President Donald Trump , and Trump agreed to him by the end of May.The developments have raised hopes for a potential breakthrough in the North Korean nuclear crisis.US National Security Adviser HR McMaster met his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in San Francisco for talks over the weekend on denuclearization and the summit talks.South Korea's presidential office says the three agreed to maintain close trilateral cooperation. </s> North and South Korea will hold a summit at their heavily armed border next month, Seoul’s envoy said Tuesday after meeting with Kim Jong Un on a trip to Pyongyang.

“The South and the North agreed to hold the third summit at... Panmunjom in late April,” said Chung Eui-yong, the national security adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-In, referring to the truce village at the heavily-fortified border.

If realised, the summit will be the third meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas, which technically remain at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty.

The previous two summits were held in 2000 and 2007, respectively, under South Korean presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun who both advocated dialogue with Pyongyang.

They both met with Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il.

The two Koreas also agreed to open communication hotline between Moon and Kim to “defuse military tension and to have close coordination,” Chung said Tuesday.

The two leaders will have their first phone conversation before the planned summit, he added.

North Korea also pledged that it would freeze its nuclear and missile testing programme during the period of dialogue. </s> SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Leaders of South Korea, Japan and China will meet next week for a summit expected to focus on North Korea's nuclear program and other regional issues.

The three Asian countries have been holding regular trilateral summits since late 2008.

South Korea's presidential office said Tuesday that President Moon Jae-in will attend the May 9 meeting in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

The Japanese government also confirmed the meeting.

Moon's office says he will brief Abe and Li about the results of his recent summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

It says Moon also plans to discuss ways to boost three-way cooperation in achieving denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. </s> A South Korean official says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has agreed to hold a landmark summit meeting with South Korea's president next month and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests if his country holds talks with the United States.

 

South Korean presidential national security director Chung Eui-yong said the two Koreas agreed to hold their third-ever summit at a tense border village in late April. He also said the leaders will establish a "hotline" communication channel to lower military tensions, and speak together before the planned summit.

 

Chung led a 10-member South Korean delegation that met with Kim during a two-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital. The delegation returned on Tuesday. </s> The President of the United States Donald Trump reportedly plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on February 27-28.

The meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un is planned to take place in Vietnam, Politico reported.

Trump is reportedly expected to formally announce details of his second summit with Kim during his State of the Union address to Congress later on Tuesday night.

Earlier, the US State Department said in a press release that US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun was about to travel to Pyongyang on February 6 for talks to prepare for the second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.

The long-standing tensions on the Korean Peninsula started to ease after Kim Jong-un committed to denuclearization of Korean peninsula and held historic summits with US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. </s> TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will host a summit with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Tokyo on May 9 to discuss regional issues, the government said on Tuesday, with observers expecting North Korea to be high on the agenda.

The meeting, which has been hosted in turn by each of the three nations since the first one was held in Japan in 2008, aims to strengthen dialogue and cooperation. It is the third time Japan has hosted the meeting, the Foreign Ministry said.

Bracketing the summit, Li will make a state visit to Japan from May 8 to 11, during which he will meet Emperor Akihito, the ministry added.

Moon held a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday, when both sides agreed to work toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Kim is also due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in coming weeks. </s> North and South Korea have agreed to hold a summit at their heavily armed border next month, with Pyongyang saying it would consider abandoning nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees, Seoul said Tuesday.

If confirmed by Pyongyang, the offer would mark the first time under the current leadership the North had declared itself willing to discuss conditions under which it might consider giving up its nuclear arsenal -– a move it has previously insisted was firmly off the negotiating table.

Following a meeting in Pyongyang with leader Kim Jong Un, Chung Eui-yong, the national security adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said the North had stated there was “no reason” to hold on to its nuclear weapons “if military threats towards the North are cleared and the security of its regime is guaranteed”.

Chung said Kim and Moon would meet in late April at the fortified border village of Panmunjom for what would be only the third inter-Korean summit since the end of the 1950-53 Korean conflict.

He said the two sides would establish a leader-to-leader hotline, offering the highest-level contact between two nations that are technically still at war.

After months of soaring tensions that have seen Kim Jong Un trade insults and threats with US President Donald Trump, temperatures cooled dramatically as South Korea hosted the Winter Olympics.

Despite having few athletes competing at the Games, Pyongyang sent a large and colourful delegation, which included Kim’s sister, who met with Moon to offer a summit meeting.

That visit was returned this week when Moon sent the highest-level delegation in a decade north of the border.

The envoys returned Tuesday with news of apparent breakthroughs in the long-logjammed relationship.

“The South and the North agreed to hold the third summit at… Panmunjom in late April,” said Chung, referring to the truce village at the heavily-fortified border.

If realised, the summit will be the third meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas, which technically remain at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty.

The previous two summits were held in 2000 and 2007, respectively, under South Korean presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun who both advocated dialogue with Pyongyang.

They both met with Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il.

The two Koreas also agreed to open communication hotline between Moon and Kim to “defuse military tension and to have close coordination,” Chung said Tuesday.

The leaders will have their first phone conversation before the planned summit, he added.

North Korea also pledged that it would freeze its nuclear and missile testing programme during the period of dialogue. </s> SEOUL — South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a broad agreement on Wednesday morning in Pyongyang that both said would usher in a new era of peace on the Korean peninsula.

At a news conference held in Pyongyang’s state guesthouse Paekhwawon, President Moon said that North Korea will permanently dismantle its Donchang-ri missile engine test site and launch pad and would allow international inspectors to observe. He added that the North would take the further step of closing its Yongbyon nuclear facility if the United States responded with further concessions.

"The South and the North also discussed denuclearization steps for the first time," Moon said of his talks with Kim in a joint press conference held at the North's state guesthouse Paekhwawon.

The Yonhap News Agency reported Kim Jong Un said he and Moon had agreed to remove all nuclear weapons and threats from the Korean Peninsula.

"The September declaration will open a higher level for the improvement in relations (between the South and the North) ... and bring closer the era of peace and prosperity," Kim was quoted.

The defense ministers of both countries also signed agreements which Seoul said included measures to reduce military tensions on the divided peninsula.

At the conference, which was broadcast live on South Korean television, President Moon said that Kim had agreed to visit Seoul in the near future and that the two Koreas would bid to jointly host the 2032 Summer Olympics.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea president Moon Jae-in agree to hold a third summit between September 18 and September 20 in Pyongyang.