Inter-Korean high-level talks begin at truce village of Panmunjeom
- 6 years ago
Today is another big day of diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula.
High-level delegations from South and North Korea are meeting at the border village of Panmunjeom right now... to hammer out the details of their highly-anticipated leaders' summit slated for late April.
Let's go live to our Oh Jung-hee, who's standing by at the Office for Inter-Korean Dialogue.
Jung-hee.
Mark.
The general meeting for today's high-level talks between Seoul and Pyongyang has actually wrapped up already.
We're hearing that the meeting began at ten, roughly two hours ago, and lasted for about 50 minutes.
It's known that the delegations candidly exchanged views on several things including the date of the summit.
Seoul's unification ministry is also telling us that representatives will soon hold another meeting to agree on a joint press statement.
The talks are being held at Tongilgak -- a building located on the North Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjeom.
The South Korean delegation is led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon...
and the North Korean side is led by Ri Son-kwon, chairman of the North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification.
The two headed their delegations during previous high-level talks back in January as well.
Opening up today's meeting, leaders of Seoul and Pyongyang's delegations shared brief greetings.
Take a listen to what they had to say.
"I especially want to express my appreciation over how North Korea sincerely celebrated the PyeongChang Winter Olympics,... sending a high-level delegation, athletes, cheerleaders and art troupes to South Korea. We will also sincerely take part in today's discussion... so that the scheduled summit talks can be held successfully."
"We saw a lot of historic events take place between the North and the South over the past 80 days. I believe they happened because we put our hearts, minds, efforts, and power together. I also want to deliver my appreciation to the South Korean government and people."
Jung-hee, so what can we expect from this latest round of talks? There must be some things both sides were looking to discuss today.
The main objective is to set the agenda and the date for the summit next month.
South Korea's summit preparation committee has three big tasks for now -- denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, building a lasting peace with lowered tensions,... and finally improving inter-Korean relations.
So, we're expecting Seoul and Pyongyang might have exchange opinions on these three things.
But especially as today's talks come hot on the heels of Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's meeting in Beijing,... we could hear more from the North on that as well.
But nothing's for certain... and what we know for sure... is that the delegates did discuss the possible date of next month's summit.
As for now, the 26th or 27th of April are considered the most likely dates.
The location of the summit has already been set as the Peace House on
High-level delegations from South and North Korea are meeting at the border village of Panmunjeom right now... to hammer out the details of their highly-anticipated leaders' summit slated for late April.
Let's go live to our Oh Jung-hee, who's standing by at the Office for Inter-Korean Dialogue.
Jung-hee.
Mark.
The general meeting for today's high-level talks between Seoul and Pyongyang has actually wrapped up already.
We're hearing that the meeting began at ten, roughly two hours ago, and lasted for about 50 minutes.
It's known that the delegations candidly exchanged views on several things including the date of the summit.
Seoul's unification ministry is also telling us that representatives will soon hold another meeting to agree on a joint press statement.
The talks are being held at Tongilgak -- a building located on the North Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjeom.
The South Korean delegation is led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon...
and the North Korean side is led by Ri Son-kwon, chairman of the North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification.
The two headed their delegations during previous high-level talks back in January as well.
Opening up today's meeting, leaders of Seoul and Pyongyang's delegations shared brief greetings.
Take a listen to what they had to say.
"I especially want to express my appreciation over how North Korea sincerely celebrated the PyeongChang Winter Olympics,... sending a high-level delegation, athletes, cheerleaders and art troupes to South Korea. We will also sincerely take part in today's discussion... so that the scheduled summit talks can be held successfully."
"We saw a lot of historic events take place between the North and the South over the past 80 days. I believe they happened because we put our hearts, minds, efforts, and power together. I also want to deliver my appreciation to the South Korean government and people."
Jung-hee, so what can we expect from this latest round of talks? There must be some things both sides were looking to discuss today.
The main objective is to set the agenda and the date for the summit next month.
South Korea's summit preparation committee has three big tasks for now -- denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, building a lasting peace with lowered tensions,... and finally improving inter-Korean relations.
So, we're expecting Seoul and Pyongyang might have exchange opinions on these three things.
But especially as today's talks come hot on the heels of Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's meeting in Beijing,... we could hear more from the North on that as well.
But nothing's for certain... and what we know for sure... is that the delegates did discuss the possible date of next month's summit.
As for now, the 26th or 27th of April are considered the most likely dates.
The location of the summit has already been set as the Peace House on