SOUTH KOREA has agreed with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to hold summit talks in late April, South Korea’s presidential national security director, Chung Eui-yong, said yesterday. The DPRK confirmed its will to denuclearize the peninsula, making it clear that if military threat toward the country is removed and its regime safety is guaranteed, the DPRK has no reason to possess its nuclear program, the senior Blue House official said. As long as dialogues continue, the DPRK will conduct no strategic provocation, including a nuclear test and ballistic missile test launches, without fail, while using no weapons, both conventional and nuclear, toward South Korea, Chung said. South Korea’s presidential office also said that the countries have agreed to set up a telephone hotline between their leaders. The comments were made hours after a South Korean delegation led by Chung returned from a visit to the DPRK, where they met with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un. Kim received Moon’s special envoy, Chung, also head of the National Security Office of the Blue House, shortly after the South Korean delegation arrived in Pyongyang on Monday. Chung told a press briefing in Seoul yesterday that the DPRK showed willingness to talk with the United States for the denuclearization and normalized relations between Pyongyang and Washington. During the meeting, Kim praised the PyeongChang Winter Olympics as a “very important occasion in demonstrating the stamina and prestige of our nation at home and abroad and providing a good atmosphere of reconciliation, unity and dialogue between the north and the south.” Chung handed Kim a personal letter from Moon, media reports said. The 10-member delegation also included Suh Hoon, director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Vice Unification Minister Chung Hae-sung, Second Deputy NIS Director Kim Sang-gyun, and Yun Kun-young, a senior Blue House official. The delegation had a meeting and dinner with Kim Jong Un for over four hours Monday night in Pyongyang. The delegation visited the presidential compound in Seoul to brief President Moon on their DPRK visit. The South Korean envoys reportedly planned to visit the United States within this week to broker a possible dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington. (Xinhua) |