SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has invited the South’s PresidentMoon Jae-in for a summit in Pyongyang, Seoul said Saturday.
The invitation, delivered by Kim’s visiting sister Kim Yo Jong, said Kimwas willing to meet the South’s leader “at the earliest date possible”,said a spokesman for the presidential Blue House.
An inter-Korean summit would be the third of its kind, after Kim’s fatherand predecessor Kim Jong Il met the South’s Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyunin 2000 and 2007 respectively, both of them in Pyongyang.
After months of silence on whether it would even take part in thePyeongchang Winter Olympics in the South, which had their opening ceremonyFriday, nuclear-armed North Korea has gone on a charm offensive,dispatching athletes, performers and Kim’s sister plus other diplomaticdelegates to the South.
Moon met Kim Yo Jong and the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Namfor talks and lunch at the Blue House on Saturday.
“Special envoy Kim Yo Jong delivered a personal letter” from her brotherstating his “wish to improve inter-Korean relations”, said Moon’s spokesmanKim Eui-kyeom.
She verbally conveyed Kim’s invitation to Moon “to visit the North at hismost convenient time”, he added.
Moon has long argued for engagement with the North to bring it to thenegotiating table over its nuclear ambitions, but did not immediatelyaccept the offer.
Moon called for efforts to “create the right conditions to realise” such avisit, his spokesman said, urging Pyongyang to more actively seek dialoguewith the US.
“It is absolutely necessary for the North and the United States to engagein talks at an early date,” he cited Moon as saying.
Washington has long insisted the North must show a willingness todenuclearise before any negotiations — which Pyongyang says it will neverdo. – AFP