GOYANG, South Korea (AP) – The Latest on the summit between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea (all times local):

North and South Korea have agreed to stop all hostile acts over “land, sea and air” that can cause military tensions and clashes, after a summit between their leaders at a border truce village.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced Friday that starting May 1 they will suspend all loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts the countries have been blaring at each other across their heavily-armed border. They will also dismantle broadcasting equipment.

The Koreas also agreed to stop flying propaganda leaflets across their border.

The countries also agreed to take steps to defuse the relatively frequent clashes around their western maritime border by designating the area as a “peace zone” and guarantee safe operations of fishermen from both countries.

The Koreas plan to hold military talks in May to further discuss reducing tensions.

The two Koreas have agreed for South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in to visit Pyongyang sometime this autumn.

The agreement came after a historic summit between the leaders of the two Koreas at the border village of Panmunjom on Friday.

A joint statement didn’t say when Moon would visit Pyongyang. But it says Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet on a regular basis and exchange calls via a recently established hotline.

North and South Korea have agreed to open a permanent communication office in the North Korean town of Kaesong and resume temporary reunions between relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War following a historic summit between their leaders.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in also said after their summit on Friday that the Koreas will seek to expand civilian exchanges and pursue joint sports and cultural events.

The family reunions are expected to take place around Aug. 15, an anniversary for both Koreas celebrating their peninsula’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule after the end of World War II.

Koreas plan to hold high-level talks and other negotiations to fulfill the agreements made at the summit.

North and South Korea say they will jointly push for talks with the United State and also potentially China to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War, which stopped in an armistice and left the Koreas still technically at war.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced after their summit on Friday that the Koreas will push for three-way talks including Washington or four-way talks that also include Beijing on converting the armistice into a peace treaty and establishing permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The Koreas said they hope the parties will be able to declare an official end to the war by the end of this year.

While President Donald Trump has given his “blessing” for the Koreas to discuss an end to the war, there can be no real solution without the involvement of Washington and other parties that fought in the war because South Korea wasn’t a direct signatory to the armistice that stopped the fighting.

The two Koreas have agreed to rid their peninsula of nuclear weapons but failed to provide any new specific measures how to achieve that.

A joint statement issued after their leaders’ talks Friday says the two Koreas confirmed their goal of achieving “a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization.”

North Korea has placed its nukes up for negotiations. It has previously used the term “denuclearization” to say it can disarm only when the United States withdraws its 28,500 troops in South Korea.

The statement didn’t say what other specific disarmament steps North Korea would take.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are walking back to a building at a border truce village to resume their summit after talking privately for around 30 minutes at a nearby bridge.

Kim and Moon, after their afternoon session, are expected to jointly announce the outcome of their meeting.

The statement is expected to be announced in about an hour.

China has welcomed the summit between its ally North Korea and South Korea, saying it applauds the countries’ leaders for taking a “historic step” toward peace.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a briefing Friday that Beijing wishes that the meeting between the North’s leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will achieve a “positive result.”

Hua quoted the famed Chinese writer Lu Xun: “After all of the suffering, the brotherly friendship still exists; with a smile, let’s forget about the debt of gratitude and revenge.”

Hua says China looks forward to taking this summit as an opportunity to expand into a “new journey of long-term peace and stability on the peninsula.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are talking privately for more than 20 minutes, sitting on chairs at a blue bridge inside a border truce village where Moon is hosting Kim for a summit.

The leaders on Friday walked unaccompanied to the bridge for a private conversation before they are expected to resume the afternoon session of the summit. It isn’t immediately clear what is being said between the leaders.

South Korea’s presidential office said earlier Moon expressed satisfaction after the first round of talks with Kim at the border truce village of Panmunjom. The office says the leaders discussed the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that working level officials from both countries are working on a joint statement.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have poured a mixture of soil and water from both countries onto a pine tree they planted at a truce village as a symbol of peace before resuming their highly anticipated summit.

Kim and Moon have also unveiled a stone plaque placed next to the tree that was engraved with a message saying “Peace and Prosperity Are Planted.”

The pine tree dates to 1953, the year the Korean War ended in an armistice. The soil and water were brought from the Koreas’ mountains and rivers.

The leaders then talked while walking unaccompanied on a nearby bridge before they are expected to resume the afternoon session of their summit at Panmunjom.

Kim at one point was seen waving away photographers as he and Moon continued their talks sitting on chairs placed at the bridge.

A Japanese Cabinet official says his government and the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1980s and 1990s are closely watching the inter-Korean summit in hopes the two leaders discuss the issue.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in aremeeting Friday in the border village of Panmunjom.

Katsunobu Kato, Japan’s minister for the abduction issue, says he hopes progress will be made at an upcoming summit that Kim is expected to hold with President Donald Trump.

Tokyo has asked Seoul and Washington to press Kim to resolve the decades-old problem. Pyongyang has acknowledged abducting 13 Japanese decades ago. Five of them returned to Japan in 2002. Pyongyang says the eight others have died, but Japan believes they could be alive.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is welcoming the summit between the two Koreas but says he doesn’t expect any great breakthrough that might curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

Johnson told reporters at NATO headquarters Friday, “I am very encouraged by what’s happening.”

He says: “I don’t think that anybody looking at the history of North Korea’s plans to develop a nuclear weapon would want to be over-optimistic at this point. But it is clearly good news that the two leaders are meeting. Absolutely.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are expected to jointly announce the outcome of their summit in a few hours.

South Korea’s presidential office said earlier Friday Moon expressed satisfaction after the first round of talks with Kim at the border truce village of Panmunjom. The office says the leaders discussed the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that working level officials from both countries are working on a joint statement.

The leaders will resume their meetings in the afternoon after planting a memorial tree. Moon’s office says he and Kim are expected to announce the results of their meeting before attending a dinner banquet scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Moon’s office says the banquet will be also attended by the wives of Kim and Moon.

Also invited to the dinner are famous cultural figures from both countries, including the North’s Hyon Song Wol, the leader of Kim’s hand-picked Moranbong girl band, and South Korean pop star Cho Yong-pil.

Seoul says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s wife will cross the border into South Korea to attend a dinner banquet after the Koreas’ summit talks at a border village.

Kim crossed the border into South Korea on Friday morning for talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the southern side of Panmunjom. Kim was accompanied by a group of top officials but his wife, Ri Sol Ju, was not present.

Moon’s spokesman Yoon Young-chan says that Ri will cross the border and attend the banquet with Kim, Moon and Moon’s wife Kim Jung-sook later Friday.

Ri is a former singer with the North’s Unhasu Orchestra.

Seoul says the leaders of the two Koreas had “sincere, candid” talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”and other issues during their summit talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are holding the Koreas’ third-ever summit talks at the border village of Panmunjom on Friday.

Moon’s spokesman Yoon Young-chan told reporters that the two leaders also discussed how to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and improve ties between the rivals.

They are to meet again later Friday.

Yoon says the two Koreas are working on a joint statement to be issued after their one-day meeting.

North Koreans are reacting to news their leader is holding a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in with cautious expressions of support.

Though South Koreans and much of the world were able to watch some of the key summit events live, the only news available from North Korea’s state media well into the afternoon on Friday was a brief dispatch that leader Kim Jong Un had departed the capital to meet Moon inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides their nations.

State television was expected to report on the summit later in the day.

In the meantime, residents of the capital kept their comments short.

Pyongyang resident Jin Kum Il, referring to the ruling party’s daily newspaper, says: “I saw the news today in the Worker’s Daily about our respected supreme leader Kim Jong Un setting off to go to the North-South summit on the south side.”

He adds: “This meeting is coming after more than 10 years and I hope it’s successful.”

Another resident Kim Song Hui is noting Kim has made it clear this year he intends to repair ties with Seoul.

She told an AP Television News crew: “Our respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un already in his New Year’s address this year stressed the importance of improving relations between North and South.”

South Korean conservative activists have set fire to North Korean flags during a rally against the summit talks between the leaders of the two Koreas.

Hundreds of activists gathered near the border village of Panmunjom on Friday to protest the talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

They set on fire two paper North Korean flags with the images of Kim and his late father and grandfather.

They also chanted slogans including “Step down, Moon Jae-in!”

No major violence has been reported.

South Korea says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the country’s transport conditions as poor as he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed Moon’s potential visit to the North.

Moon’ spokesman Yoon Young-chan says Kim’s comments came after Moon expressed a desire to travel across North Korea to visit Mount Paektu that touches the country’s border with China.

According to Yoon, Kim in response said such a trip might be currently uncomfortable for Moon because the country’s transport system was deficient. Yoon says Kim also said North Korean delegates who visited the South during February’s Winter Olympics also came back impressed with South Korea’s bullet train service.

Yoon says Moon in response said North Koreans would also be able to enjoy the South’s high-speed trains if the rivals improve relations and reconnect their rail networks across the border.

North Korean roads are often bumpy and poorly maintained. Kim earlier this month met with China’s ambassador and visited a hospital where Chinese tourists were being treated after a deadly bus crash killed 32 in North Korea.

South Korea says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a reference to North Koreans who escaped from the country while discussing prospects of peace between the rivals in his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Moon’s spokesman Yoon Young-chan says Kim mentioned the defectors among people who have high expectations for the summit to heal scars and improve relations between the rivals.

Yoon quoted Kim as saying: “We should value this opportunity so that the scars between the South and North could be healed.”

Yoon says Kim added: “The border line isn’t that high; it will eventually be erased if a lot of people pass over it.”

North Korea normally expresses anger toward defectors and often accuses South Korea of abducting or enticing its citizens to defect.

The North in 2016 accused the South of abducting 12 North Korean women who had worked at restaurant in China and demanded them to be sent back to the North. That was months before the North called a senior North Korean diplomat who defected to the South as “human scum.”

Around 30,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a reference to a South Korean island targeted by a North Korean artillery attack that killed four in 2010.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s senior spokesman said Kim said the residents of Yeonpyeong Island who have been living under the fear of North Korean artillery attacks and also families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War have high hopes for the inter-Korean talks to help heal past scars.

Moon called for more meetings between the leaders and said he wishes to travel in North Korea to visit Mount Paektu near the country’s border with China.

Kim said the trip under current conditions would be uncomfortable, but the North would improve its transportation networks should Moon decided to visit. Kim also said the North Korean delegation during their visit to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February came back impressed by the South’s bullet train services.

Moon in response said the people of both Koreas would be able to enjoy high-speed train services if relations improve and the countries connect their rail networks across borders.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have finished the morning session of their summit at a border truce village.

Television showed bodyguards jogging beside Kim’s black limousine as it rolled back to the northern side of the Panmunjom where Kim and other North Korean officials participating in the summit are expected to have lunch.

The leaders plan to meet again in the afternoon at the southern side of the village for talks Seoul says are aimed at resolving the standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has thanked South Korean President Moon Jae-in for greeting him at a “historic place” ahead of their meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom.

At the historic moment when the two leaders shook hands across the Military Demarcation line that bisects the rivals, Kim said that his heart “keeps throbbing.”

Moon replied to Kim’s thanks by saying that the North Korean leader made a “very courageous decision” to come to the South.

The high-stakes summit is aimed at resolving the standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has given his younger sister a place at the negotiating table for the first North-South Korea summit in more than a decade.

Kim Yo Jong has emerged as the most visible member of Kim Jong Un’s regime after her brother – since she became the first member of the ruling North Korean family to travel to the South in early February for the Olympics.

She was in Kim’s delegation as he walked across the line that divides the two Koreas on Friday morning and took a seat beside him as he started his first round of talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The only other North Korean official present was former intelligence chief Kim Yong Chol, the top official in charge of relations with the South.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he’s ready for “heartfelt, sincere and honest” talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on pending issues and that the Koreas must not repeat the past where they were “unable to fulfill our agreements.”

Kim did not make any direct mention of the North Korean nuclear issue in the part of his talks with Moon that were shown on live television.

Kim also joked that he hoped Moon would enjoy North Korea’s famous cold noodles that will be brought to the banquet after the summit, saying it was difficult to bring the noodles from capital Pyongyang. He then turned to his sister sitting to his left and said “maybe I shouldn’t have said (Pyongyang) was far.”

Moon in response there were high expectations surrounding the inter-Korean summit and that they produce an agreement that would please the people of Koreas and also “every peace-loving person in the world.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has signed a guestbook with a message wishing for peace between the Koreas as he arrived for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Kim wrote in the guestbook: “New history starts from now, at the historic starting point of an era of peace.” Kim earlier stepped into the southern side of a border truce village of Panmunjom to become the first North Korean leader to set foot into the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The meeting between Kim and Moon is only the third-ever summit between the rivals who remain technically at war.

Seoul says the meeting will be focused on discussing ways for North Korea’s nuclear disarmament and establishing a permanent peace regime in the Korean Peninsula.

The White House says it is hopeful the summit between the two Korean leaders will achieve progress toward peace.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed over to the southern side of the world’s most heavily armed border Friday morning to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in. They shook hands and inspected an honor guard before later holding a closed-door discussion about Kim’s nuclear weapons.

The White House said in a statement that it is “hopeful that talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula. … (and) looks forward to continuing robust discussions in preparation for the planned meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made history by crossing over to the southern side of the world’s most heavily armed border to meet rival South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

It’s the first time a member of the Kim dynasty has set foot on southern soil since the end of the Korean War in 1953 and the latest bid to settle the world’s last Cold War standoff.

The overwhelming focus of the summit, the country’s third-ever, will be on North Korea’s growing arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Kim’s news agency said earlier Friday that the leader would “open-heartedly” discuss with Moon “all the issues arising in improving inter-Korean relations.”

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has left Seoul’s presidential palace for a high-stakes summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that will kick off a new round of nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang.

Moon on Friday briefly stepped out of his black limousine and cheerfully shook hands with hundreds of supporters who waved white South Korean flags and raised banners with messages including “Please Achieve Successful Denuclearization.”

Hundreds of members of the Korean Veterans Association arrived on buses from different parts of the nation hours earlier to send off Moon’s motorcade.

The meeting between Moon and Kim is just the third summit between the rivals since the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea’s state media reports that leader Kim Jong Un has left Pyongyang for the North-South summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

A report by the North’s Korean Central News Agency said Kim would “open-heartedly”‘discuss with Moon “all the issues arising in improving inter-Korean relations and achieving peace, prosperity and reunification of the Korean peninsula.”

The report called the summit on Friday “historic” and noted that it would be held on the south side of the Demilitarized Zone, a first for Kim.

It also said that after the talks Kim will plant a memorial tree with Moon, make public the results of the talks and attend a dinner hosted by Moon before returning to Pyongyang. </s> North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday night headed for the Demilitarized Zone for a historic summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the strip of land that divides their countries, AFP reported.

The meeting on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom, only the third of its kind since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, will be the highest-level encounter yet between the two countries, and is intended to pave the way for a much-anticipated encounter between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.

In the most detailed direct reference to the process by the North so far, Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency said Kim will "open-heartedly discuss... all the issues arising in improving inter-Korean relations and achieving peace, prosperity and reunification of the Korean peninsula."

Moon greeted Kim at the concrete blocks that mark the border between the two Koreas in the Demilitarized Zone to begin the rare meeting. When Kim stepped over the line he became the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South since the Korean War ended 65 years ago.

The North's nuclear arsenal will be high on the agenda at the talks.

The White House welcomed the Moon-Kim meeting.

“On the occasion of Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in’s historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, we wish the Korean people well. We are hopeful that talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula. The United States appreciates the close coordination with our ally, the Republic of Korea, and looks forward to continuing robust discussions in preparation for the planned meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks," it said in a statement.

Trump in March unexpectedly agreed to a meeting with Kim, to be held by the end of May. Kim later acknowledged for the first time his country’s contacts with the United States.

U.S. officials recently said North Korea had directly confirmed that Kim was willing to negotiate about potential denuclearization. Last week, Kim himself announced that his country would close its nuclear test site and suspend long-range missile tests.

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Those actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Moon seized on the South's Winter Olympics as an opportunity to broker dialogue between them, and has said his meeting with Kim will serve to set up the summit between Pyongyang and Washington.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Administration officials said this week that Trump will urge North Korea to act quickly to dismantle its nuclear arsenal when he meets Kim and is not willing to grant Pyongyang substantial sanctions relief in return for a freeze of its nuclear and missile tests.

Trump reiterated on Tuesday that he would walk away from the talks with North Korea if they are not fruitful.

"Unlike past administrations, I will leave the table," he said. "But I think we have the chance to do something very special." </s> 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 — 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. </s> The Korean leaders have agreed on a process to complete denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

The Korean leaders have agreed on a process to complete denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

THE KOREAN leaders have agreed on a process to completely denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in says the two leaders have reached a conclusion on a range of measures designed to bring an end to simmering tensions.

 He said North Korea will close its Tongchang-ri missile testing site following the ongoing three-day summit in Pyongyang.

"The North agreed to permanently close the Tongchang-ri missile engine test site and missile launch facility in the presence of experts from relevant nations," Mr Moon told reporters.

He also said the North had agreed to permanently dismantle its main Nyongban nuclear complex if the United States takes corresponding measures.

The two countries have also reportedly agreed to jointly host the 2032 Summer Olympics.



 The pair spoke at a new conference after signing a joint statement.

The defense chiefs of the two Koreas also signed their agreements that Seoul says are about reducing military tensions along the border.

Today marked the leaders' second day of summit talks in the North Korean capital.

They were accompanied by their wives and top government officials, including Moon's national security adviser Chung Eui-yong and Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who is seen as one of the hermit nation's most popular figures in the regime.

Before their meeting, Mr Moon attended a performance of North Korea's iconicm ass games.

South Korean media pool reports said Mr Kim thanked Mr Moon for brokering his Singapore summit with US president Donald Trump in June, which he credited with bringing stability to the region.

Mr Moon is expected to depart back to Seoul tomorrow. </s> At a carefully planned inter-Korean summit Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threw out an unexpected curve ball.

As Kim crossed over the border to meet his southern counterpart on South Korean soil, the two Korean leaders exchanged pleasantries and shook hands, as expected. What took place immediately afterwards, however, was unplanned.

“When do I get to visit the North?” South Korean President Moon Jae-in reportedly asked Kim, who replied that he could do so right then and there.

The two Korean leaders then stepped over the concrete slab delineating the inter-Korean border into North Korea. Hand-in-hand, Kim and Moon then stepped across the military demarcation line together.

The entire spectacle, one of the most talked about moments of the summit, was clear evidence that both sides understand the value of propaganda.

This scene, historically significant for a number of reasons, was preceded by a polite yet somewhat awkward conversation.

“Nice to meet you,” Kim said. “How was the journey?” Moon asked, to which Kim replied, “It was fine.”

The South Korean president then said that it was nice to meet Kim. “I can’t stop the feeling excited to meet in this historic place, and I am very moved that the president came to greet me at the demarcation line,” the latter responded.

“It was a courageous decision for you to come here,” Moon said, leading Kim to say that it was not. “It’s a historic moment,” Moon stated.

Indeed, Friday’s summit was significant, as it is the third inter-Korean summit and the first since Kim took power.

Furthermore, Friday marked the first time a North Korean leader has visited South Korea since the end of Korean War hostilities.

During their meeting, the two sides agreed to increased bilateral cooperation, closer diplomatic ties, the cessation of hostilities and phased disarmament. Both Moon and Kim expressed a desire to finally end the Korean War.

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Timetables remain unclear, and commitments remain vague, but the results of Friday’s summit may have the potential to move the Korean Peninsula closer to a state of peace.

Moon is expected to visit Pyongyang later this year.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below. </s> South Korean President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their meeting at the Peace House at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, South Korea, April 27, 2018.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in wants to create a Northeast Asian railroad community with North Korea, the United States, China, Japan, Russia and Mongolia, Yonhap News reported on Wednesday.

Speaking at an event marking his country's independence from Japanese rule, Moon said such a "community" could eventually herald the launch of a "multilateral security system" in the region, according to the report.

"This community will lead to an energy bloc and economic bloc in Northeast Asia by expanding our economic area to the northern continent and becoming the foundation of co-existence and prosperity in Northeast Asia," Moon projected, according to Yonhap.

The president's administration will seek to link railways and roads with the North before year-end, Yonhap said.

The initiative is one of many efforts that Seoul is undertaking to strengthen peace in Northeast Asia following June's milestone U.S.-North Korea summit. Since then, the reclusive regime has dismantled some missile engine testing facilities, but many question leader Kim Jong Un's willingness to deliver on the denuclearization promise he made to President Donald Trump.

Moon also called for broad energy and economic cooperation with the North on Wednesday, stressing his goal to politically unify both countries. "True liberation" will only be achieved when the two neighbors establish a lasting peace and economic relations, the head of state was quoted as saying.

The South Korean leader indicated that he will soon visit Pyongyang for a third bilateral summit with Kim. In May, the duo held their official second meeting at the border village of Panmunjom following an earlier summit in April.

For more on Moon's Wednesday speech, see Yonhap's full report. </s> North Korea has agreed to refrain from conducting nuclear and missile tests while engaging in dialogue with South Korea, Seoul's national security chief Chung Eui-yong said Tuesday after returning from a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Chung added that Pyongyang also expressed willingness to talk to the United States "in an open-ended dialogue to discuss the issue of denuclearization and to normalize relations with North Korea."

Chung said that as part of the dialogue, the two Koreas would hold a summit next month, the first of its kind in more than a decade.

The last inter-Korean summit was in 2007, when South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun met Kim's father, late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

The meeting will be held at the Panmunjom Peace House on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone that divides the two countries, Chung said.

Pyongyang and Seoul will also open a communication hotline that will enable Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in to speak directly.

Moon sent Chung and four other top government officials to Pyongyang Monday, when they met with Kim and some of his top aides.

It's believed to be the first time the young North Korean leader has ever met with any officials from South Korea since taking power in 2011.

Developing story - more to come </s> South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital later this month to discuss ways to "denuclearize the Korean Peninsula," Moon's special envoy to Pyongyang said Thursday.

At a news conference aired on South Korean TV and reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap, the envoy, Chung Eui-yong, said the meeting — the third between the two leaders — would be Sept. 18 to 20 in Pyongyang.

"High-level negotiations" to work out the details will begin next week, Chung, the head of South Korea's National Security Office, said a day after he returned from leading a delegation to the North.

Kim and Moon previously met in the border village of Panmunjom on May 26 and on April 27, when they signed a historic declaration pledging a common goal of "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula.

Chung said Kim reaffirmed again this week his commitment to denuclearization and promised to work with the United States to that end, Yonhap reported.

The Korean Central News Agency, Pyongyang's official news service, reported that Kim reassured the delegation that he remains eager to "completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean Peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat," according to Yonhap.

U.S. officials have insisted that a peace declaration, which many see as a precursor to the North eventually calling for the removal of all U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula, can't come before North Korea takes more concrete action toward abandoning its nuclear weapons.

Such steps may include providing an account of the components of its nuclear program, allowing outside inspections and giving up a certain number of its nuclear weapons during the early stages of the negotiations.

South Korean officials said an end-of-war declaration would be among the issues discussed in the meetings between the South Korean envoys and North Korean officials.

The Korean War ended with an armistice, leaving the peninsula technically still at war. Moon has made an end-of-war declaration an important premise of his peace agenda with North Korea.

While an end-of-war declaration wouldn't imply a legally binding peace treaty, experts say it could create political momentum that would make it easier for North Korea to steer the discussions toward a peace regime, diplomatic recognition, economic benefits and security concessions.

North Korea has accused the United States of making "unilateral and gangster-like" demands for denuclearization and of holding back on the end-of-war declaration. North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday published a long statement on its website saying an end-of-war declaration would be a necessary trust-building step that would "manifest the political will to establish the lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula."
South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Moon and Kim agree to officially end the Korean War and the Korean conflict overall. Kim becomes the first North Korean leader to cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone since the war.