Denuclearisation to top Moon’s Pyongyang agenda

SEOUL AFP, Sept17, 2018  - Denuclearisation will be high on South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s agenda when he meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang this week, Moon’s office said Monday.   

Moon will fly to the North Korean capital on Tuesday for his third summit with Kim in the latest stage of a diplomatic thaw on the peninsula, although progress has stalled in denuclearisation talks between Pyongyang and Washington.  “We will push for North Korea’s advanced denuclearisation and a reciprocal measure from the US by swiftly reviving sincere dialogue aimed at establishing new, peaceful relations,” Moon’s chief of staff Im Jong-seok told reporters.   

Moon, who met Kim twice this year, was instrumental in brokering the historic Singapore summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim in June, when Kim backed denuclearisation of the “Korean peninsula”.   

But no details were agreed and Washington and Pyongyang have sparred since over what that means and how it will be achieved.