SOUTH Korean President Moon Jae-in plans to greet Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), on the military demarcation line (MDL) inside Panmunjom, a border village dividing the two Koreas, the Blue House of South Korea said Thursday.

Im Jong-seok, presidential chief of staff who is leading South Korea’s preparation for the Moon-Kim summit, told a press briefing at the media press center in Goyang, outside of Seoul, that Moon and Kim will make their first historic encounter at 9:30 a.m. local time Friday on the MDL inside Panmunjom.

Kim will cross the MDL, marked only by a low concrete slab, through a narrow aisle between the blue pavilions sitting in the middle of the border village and straddling the two Koreas. The blue pavilions are used as the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission meeting room.

Im said Moon will greet Kim, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, on the MDL, noting that Kim will walk over the MDL under the escort of South Korea’s honor guard.

Moon and Kim will walk to a square between the Freedom House and the Peace House, located on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, to hold an official welcoming ceremony that includes the inspection of the honor guard.

Kim would become the first DPRK leader to set foot on South Korean soil since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

After the welcoming ceremony, the two leaders will move on foot to the Peace House, a venue for the third inter-Korean summit since the first in 2000 and the second in 2007 were held in the DPRK’s capital of Pyongyang.

On the first floor of the Peace House, Kim will sign his name in the visitors’ book and take a commemorative photo with Moon.

Moon and Kim will start their first tete-a-tete from 10:30 a.m. local time at a conference room on the second floor of the Peace House to discuss issues on peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, Moon’s chief of staff said.

Im said the upcoming summit will focus on key issues including the denuclearized Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a permanent peace.

The two leaders will have lunch separately after the summit meeting in the morning, with Kim slated to return to the DPRK side of Panmunjom for lunch and a break.

After lunch, Kim will cross the border to the South Korean side of Panmunjom in the afternoon to plant a pine tree, which symbolizes peace and prosperity, together with Moon on the MDL that had been a symbol of the confrontation and division of the Koreas for the past 65 years.

The pine tree will be planted in a “cattle road,” through which late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung went to the DPRK to deliver 50 truckloads of 500 cows to DPRK farmers in June 1998. Later in the year, Chung led 501 more cows to the DPRK.

Moon and Kim will take a walk to the Footbridge inside the border village after the pine tree-planting event, while sharing pleasant conversation.

After the friendship stroll, the two leaders will resume the summit talks at the Peace House. Moon and Kim will then sign and announce a joint statement. Whether they will jointly announce the agreed statement will be determined according to the level of the agreement that the two leaders reach.

A welcoming banquet will be held on the third floor of the Peace House, attended by the two leaders and their entourages.(Xinhua)