SOUTH KOREA CLAIMS NORTH AGREES ON SUMMIT, PROMISES TO STOP SABRE-RATTLING

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, center, meeting in Pyongyang, the capital, on Monday, with South Korean envoys. Credit North Korean Central News Agency, via European Pressphoto Agency

North Korea and South Korea have ageed to hold a summit meeting between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in on the country’s border in late April.

According to the South, the sides have also agreed to estabsih a “hotline” between their leaders. The first phone conversation will reportedly take place before the summit.

“The North Korean side clearly stated its willingness to denuclearize,” the South Korean president’s office said in a statement. “It made it clear that it would have no reason to keep nuclear weapons if the military threat to the North was eliminated and its security guaranteed.”

“The North expressed its willingness to hold a heartfelt dialogue with the United States on the issues of denuclearization and normalizing relations with the United States,” the statement said. “It made it clear that while dialogue is continuing, it will not attempt any strategic provocations, such as nuclear and ballistic missile tests.”

The statement came after a South Korean delegation had returned from a trip to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. However, these claims of the South still have to be confirmed by the North.

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