S.Korean diplomats fly to Pyongyang to prepare for next summit

A group of South Korean envoys travelled to Pyongyang on Wednesday to prepare for an upcoming inter-Korean summit and help re-start stalled talks between the US and North Korea.

The five-member delegation, led by Chung Eui-yong, head of the National Security Office, will deliver a letter from South Korean President Moon Jae-in to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Efe news reported.

The main objective of the visit would be to fix a date for the next Kim-Moon summit, scheduled for September in Pyongyang.

The delegation will also discuss ways to implement the Panmunjom Declaration signed at the inter-Korean summit in April, in which both leaders had pledged complete denuclearisation on the peninsula, said Chung.

During a phone conversation with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Moon had assured the latter that he would keep Washington informed of the outcomes of Wednesday's meeting.

At the US-North Korea summit in Singapore in June, Kim and Trump had agreed to improve bilateral ties and work toward North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

North Korea had also promised to dismantle its nuclear arsenal in return for a peace treaty with South Korea to definitively end the Korean War.

--IANS

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