Chief of the National Security Office Chung Eui-yong (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shake hands after Chung delivered a signed letter to Kim from President Moon Jae-in, in the main building of the Workers Party of Korea in Pyongyang on March 5.

By Jeon Han and Yoon Sojung

Photos = Cheong Wa Dae

“The South and the North have agreed to hold a third inter-Korean summit at the Peace House at the Panmunjom truce village in late April,” said National Security Office Chief Chung Eui-yong.

Chung, who led a special delegation from the South to the North, announced the results of his mission in the evening of March 6 at the Chunchugwan Press Center at Cheong Wa Dae after returning from his two-day journey to Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. 

“The North clearly expressed its commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and said it would have no reason to possess nuclear weapons should the safety of its regime be guaranteed and if military threats against the North were removed, said the senior presidential security adviser.

Chung also said that, “The North expressed its will to have candid dialogue with the U.S. for discussing the issue of denuclearization and the normalization of Pyongyang-Washington ties.”

“The North clearly stated that it would not resume any strategic, provocative acts, such as additional nuclear tests or the firing of ballistic missiles. As the talks continue, they also vowed neither to use any nuclear weapons nor any conventional weapon toward the South,” he added.

After reporting the results of the delegation’s trip to President Moon Jae-in upon returning to Seoul, Chung said that the two sides would work together on more detailed working-level negotiations. He said that the two sides agreed to set up a hot line between the two leaders to ease military tensions and to further enhance close consultations. 

He also said that both sides agreed to have their first telephone conversation before the third inter-Korean summit.

The South Korean special delegation, led by National Security Office Chief Chung Eui-yong, talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a dinner in the main building of the North Korean Workers’ Party in Pyongyang on March 5.

The meeting between the North Korean leader and high-ranking officials and the South’s special delegation took place in the main building of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang on March 5. Meeting participants included Kim Yo-jong, deputy director for the Workers’ Party’s Department of Propaganda and Agitation, who also attended the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, and Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the North Korean Central Committee of the Workers` Party of Korea, who attended the Closing Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Chung added that the North invited a South Korean troupe of taekwondo performers and a group of musicians and dancers to Pyongyang in order to maintain the recent mood of reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas, backed by the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.

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