SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has agreed to hold high-level talks with South Korea on March 29 at the border truce village of Panmunjom to prepare for a summit of their leaders planned for April, the South said on Saturday.

A team of three officials will be led by Ri Son Gwon, the chairman of North Korea’s committee for the peaceful reunification of the country, the North told its neighbour early on Saturday, the South’s Unification Ministry said.

“This morning, North Korea sent a message through a communication channel in Panmunjom agreeing to our suggestion made on the 22nd to hold high-level inter-Korea talks,” the ministry said in a statement.

The stakes are higher for a potential summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart that may take place by the end of May, however.

Trump this week named John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations famed for his hawkish views on Pyongyang, to replace White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.

Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on March 13, saying the two had disagreed over Iran and other foreign policy matters.

The Korean talks set for March 29 will precede musical performances in Pyongyang in early April by a group of South Korean singers making a reciprocal visit after the North sent performers to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Artists of both nations will collaborate for a show on April 3, the South’s Yonhap news agency said, citing an aide of President Moon Jae-in.

Moon plans to hold a summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un by the end of April. </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> TOKYO, May 1 (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 towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. Kim is also due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in coming weeks. </s> Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe(R) will host a summit with President Moon Jae-in (L) 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.

[TOKYO] 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, Mr Li will make a state visit to Japan from May 8 to 11, during which he will meet Emperor Akihito, the ministry added.

Mr Moon held a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday, when both sides agreed to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. Kim is also due to meet US President Donald Trump in coming weeks. </s> North and South Korea will hold a summit for the first time in more than a decade in April, South Korea’s national security chief Chung Eui-yong said Tuesday after returning from a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Chung said the summit would be held in the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas and the two leaders would open a communication hotline.

Chung said North Korea 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.”

South Korean President Moon Jae-in 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 leader has ever met with any officials from South Korea since taking power in 2011. </s> SEOUL (Reuters) - Senior South Korean officials may visit Pyongyang ahead of next week’s summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a senior South Korean official said on Tuesday.

Seoul and Pyongyang are discussing the wording of a possible joint statement to be released at the summit on April 27, the official said.

Likely agenda topics include the North’s nuclear weapons program and general inter-Korean relations, but any joint economic efforts are unlikely to be discussed, he said. </s> Japan to host summit with China, South Korea on May 9

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, Reuters reports.

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. </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> SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean security officials may visit North Korea to finalise details ahead for the first summit since 2007, where the South hopes the North will confirm a commitment to give up its nuclear programme, a South Korean official said on Tuesday.

After meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in March, South Korea’s national security adviser and spy chief said Kim was committed to denuclearising the Korean peninsula and had expressed a willingness to meet U.S. President Donald Trump.

The two sides are due to hold “working-level” talks on Wednesday and then South Korea’s intelligence chief, Suh Hoon, or its national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, could visit the North to finish off preparations, if deemed necessary, South Korean presidential chief of staff, Im Jong-seok, told reporters.

The April 27 summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim is scheduled to take place in the border village of Panmunjom.

That is expected to be followed by a meeting between Kim and Trump in late May or early June, which would mark the first meeting between sitting leaders of the two countries.

“Even though our special envoys confirmed his denuclearisation will, it is entirely different if the two leaders confirm it directly among themselves and put that into text,” Im said.

“We expect the summit will confirm the denuclearisation will (of North Korea), and hope to have a comprehensive agreement with the North on the matter,” he said.

Reclusive North Korea has been pursuing nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions. It conducted its most powerful nuclear test last year and has sought to develop a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

But Kim has changed course since the beginning of the year, sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics held in South Korea in February and agreeing to discuss with South Korea and the United States a nuclear programmes the North has defended as a necessary deterrent against U.S. invasion.

The two Koreas are discussing the wording of a joint statement that could be released at the summit, Im said.

Moon has been reviewing a framework of the statement which could be called the April 27 declaration or the Panmunjom declaration, he said.

The statement would likely focus on issues of denuclearisation and peace on the Korean peninsula, and an improvement in relations not only between the two Koreas but also with other countries including the United States.

“This summit is significant because it will set the stage for the North Korea-U.S. summit, and even a possible three-way summit between the countries,” Im said.

“Without U.S. support and agreement, it will be difficult to follow through on inter-Korean agreements.”

Any joint statement is unlikely to include economic cooperation with the North, Im said.

U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed since North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006 and strengthened over the past decade aim to cut North Korea off from international trade.

The two Koreas agreed last month to install a hotline for their leaders to help defuse military tension and facilitate consultation.

The telephone line could be operational by around Friday, but it is not clear when Moon and Kim would use it the first time, Im said.

The two leaders will meet at Peace House, a South Korean building inside Panmunjom, making Kim the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Discussions are underway about live coverage of part of the meeting, Im said.

North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the conflict.
Authorities announce that the summit between the governments of North Korea and South Korea will take place on April 27, 2018.