South Korea's special delegation en route to Pyongyang for pre-summit talks
- 6 years ago
Our starting point this afternoon,...
President Moon Jae-in's team of special envoys have landed in Pyongyang ahead of their talks with North Korean officials on the upcoming inter-Korean summit -- set for this month -- as well as the regime's denuclearization efforts.
The South Korean delegation is made up of the same five officials who visited North Korea some six months ago... and they've been credited for playing a key role in bringing all the different sides back to the table.... after months of high tensions.
For more on this,.... let's turn to our Blue House correspondent Shin Se-min.
Semin,... give us the latest on this.
About an hour ago, the presidential spokesperson briefed reporters here on the progress of their trip in Pyongyang.
We heard that South Korea's special envoy and four other delegation members, who left by plane at 7:40AM, Korea time,...landed in the North Korean capital an hour and 20 minutes later.
The delegation communicated to officials here that they were prepping for a meeting at around 10 AM,... so we can assume the talks have either wrapped up or are still underway.
As much as the attention is focused on whether the envoys would be meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un today,... we still have no information as to WHO they are meeting or have met just yet.
That's a bit of an update from what we knew earlier,... as the envoys have taken a fax machine with them to keep Seoul as up-to-date as they can.
But given the communication circumstances,... those updates may be delayed throughout the day.
The diplomatic landscape has changed since the same South Korean officials traveled to Pyongyang in March,... and we are hoping this trip will be as successful as the last.... especially in terms of agreeing on the details for a third inter-Korean summit this year.... and North Korea's denuclearization.
Well Jiyoon--,... that's the goal.
South Korea's special envoy left with an ambitious agenda to work out the impasse over North Korea's denuclearization.
And that was stated by the special envoy himself at the top office on Tuesday,.. where he told the press corps that he plans to discuss ways to "completely" denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and establish lasting peace.
Take a look at this.
"As President Moon said before, this is an extremely important time in terms of establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula. Peace in the region and complete denuclearization go hand in hand."
So three major things we can expect today from the envoys-- one settling on the specific date and agenda for the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang this month, negotiating ways for a "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and lastly talking about improving relations between the two Koreas by implementing the Panmunjom Declaration.
Chung added he will be carrying a letter from President Moon to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un,... but it remains unclear whether he'll speak to Kim himself.
Mark?
President Moon Jae-in's team of special envoys have landed in Pyongyang ahead of their talks with North Korean officials on the upcoming inter-Korean summit -- set for this month -- as well as the regime's denuclearization efforts.
The South Korean delegation is made up of the same five officials who visited North Korea some six months ago... and they've been credited for playing a key role in bringing all the different sides back to the table.... after months of high tensions.
For more on this,.... let's turn to our Blue House correspondent Shin Se-min.
Semin,... give us the latest on this.
About an hour ago, the presidential spokesperson briefed reporters here on the progress of their trip in Pyongyang.
We heard that South Korea's special envoy and four other delegation members, who left by plane at 7:40AM, Korea time,...landed in the North Korean capital an hour and 20 minutes later.
The delegation communicated to officials here that they were prepping for a meeting at around 10 AM,... so we can assume the talks have either wrapped up or are still underway.
As much as the attention is focused on whether the envoys would be meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un today,... we still have no information as to WHO they are meeting or have met just yet.
That's a bit of an update from what we knew earlier,... as the envoys have taken a fax machine with them to keep Seoul as up-to-date as they can.
But given the communication circumstances,... those updates may be delayed throughout the day.
The diplomatic landscape has changed since the same South Korean officials traveled to Pyongyang in March,... and we are hoping this trip will be as successful as the last.... especially in terms of agreeing on the details for a third inter-Korean summit this year.... and North Korea's denuclearization.
Well Jiyoon--,... that's the goal.
South Korea's special envoy left with an ambitious agenda to work out the impasse over North Korea's denuclearization.
And that was stated by the special envoy himself at the top office on Tuesday,.. where he told the press corps that he plans to discuss ways to "completely" denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and establish lasting peace.
Take a look at this.
"As President Moon said before, this is an extremely important time in terms of establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula. Peace in the region and complete denuclearization go hand in hand."
So three major things we can expect today from the envoys-- one settling on the specific date and agenda for the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang this month, negotiating ways for a "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and lastly talking about improving relations between the two Koreas by implementing the Panmunjom Declaration.
Chung added he will be carrying a letter from President Moon to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un,... but it remains unclear whether he'll speak to Kim himself.
Mark?