The Korea Herald

지나쌤

N. Korea says leaders 'highly appreciate' current state of inter-Korean relations

By Yonhap

Published : Sept. 19, 2018 - 08:50

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North Korea's state media reported Wednesday on the third inter-Korean summit under way in Pyongyang, saying that the leaders of the two Koreas "highly appreciated" the current state of cross-border relations during their talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited Pyongyang on Tuesday for a three-day stay for his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. They held talks for about two hours, which will be followed by another round Wednesday.


(Yonhap) (Yonhap)

"At the talks, there was an in-depth exchange of opinions on various issues arising in further accelerating the development of the north-south relations by honestly implementing the Panmunjom declaration in an all-round manner," the Korean Central News Agency said in English.

"The Supreme Leader and the south Korean president highly appreciated the present state of the north-south relations positively developing on good terms after the two meetings and talks held successfully this year, and had a frank and candid conversation over important matters of mutual concern," it added.

The Moon-Kim summit marks the third of its kind, following one in April and another in May, both of them held in the truce village of Panmunjom.

The two adopted the Panmunjom Declaration after the April summit in which they agreed to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, stop hostile acts against each other and foster cross-border exchanges.

Moon's trip to the North this week comes amid Pyongyang's stalled denuclearization talks with Washington, apparently caused by their different views on how and at what speed the North should give up its nuclear weapons program.

Moon placed emphasis on finding a way to break the impasse in the denuclearization process.

"(My) North Korea trip would have a great meaning if it could lead to the resumption of North Korea-US dialogue," Moon was quoted as telling his aides before heading to Pyongyang on Tuesday. (Yonhap)