We begin this Tuesday afternoon with the two Koreas' assessments of a rare meeting last night between Seoul's special envoys and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
North Korea has hailed it as "openhearted" talks while the South has called the outcome "not disappointing."
Our chief Blue House correspondent Moon Connyoung reports.
"The delegation of five officials led by Chung Eui-yong met with Kim Jong-un, chairman of the North Korean State Affairs Commission on March 5th and had a dinner banquet together afterwards. The meeting and dinner banquet lasted 4 hours and 12 minutes beginning at 6 PM, Seoul time."

South Korea's presidential Blue House, early Tuesday morning, released the details of the first face-to-face between senior South Korean delegates and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un since he took power upon his father's death in late 2011.
Noting the venue of the meeting-slash-dinner - the headquarters of North Korea's powerful ruling Workers' Party - the Blue House said it marked the first time for any South Korean to be invited to the building.

North Korea's state media reported that its leader held an "openhearted talk" with the South Korean president's envoys... reaching a "satisfactory agreement" about holding an inter-Korean summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

South Korea's Blue House also acknowledged an agreement reached between the two sides... adding the outcome of the meeting, which the special delegation will unveil upon return later this evening "were not disappointing."

In a dispatch, the KCNA said Kim Jong-un expressed his desire to "write a new history of national reunification" during the welcome dinner... which was also attended by the North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo-jong, who traveled to the South last month carrying her brother's summit invitation to President Moon... and Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju.

Neither North Korea nor the South's Blue House released the details of the talks or commented on how the North's Kim responded to the South Korean appeal for Pyongyang to start a dialogue with Washington on ending the North's nuclear weapons program.

Despite the latest sign that the Koreas are trying to mend ties after a year of repeated North Korean weapons tests and threats of nuclear war, there is considerable skepticism over the two Koreas' apparent warming ties.

But each new development also raises the possibility that the two sides can use the momentum from the good feelings created during North Korea's participation in the South's PyeongChang Winter Olympics last month to ease a standoff over North Korea's nuclear ambitions and restart talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

The 10-member delegation, which includes two ministerial-level officials from the South, will wrap up a two-day trip to Pyongyang later this Tuesday evening... after another meeting with North Korean officials.
Moon Connyoung, Arirang News, the Blue House.