South Korean Envoys Meet Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang
By CHOE SANG-HUNMARCH 5, 2018
SEOUL, South Korea — Top aides of President Moon Jae-in of South Korea arrived in North Korea on Monday
and met its leader, Kim Jong-un, moving to improve inter-Korean relations and help start a dialogue between the North and the United States.
After arriving, the South Korean envoys were invited to a meeting with Mr. Kim, Mr. Moon’s spokesman,
Kim Eui-kyeom, said during a news conference in Seoul, the South Korean capital.
Mr. Moon’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong,
and the director of the National Intelligence Service, Suh Hoon, were the first South Korean officials to meet Mr. Kim since he took power six years ago, a spokesman for Mr.
Moon and Mr. Kim have both said they want to use an opening created by the North’s participation
in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, last month to improve inter-Korean ties.
It also insists that any talks with Washington would have to deal not only with its nuclear program
but also with "hostile" American policies, like the United States’ annual joint military exercises with the South, which the North says forced it to seek a nuclear deterrent in the first place.
Mr. Kim was also hosting a dinner for the men, the first South Korean envoys to visit his country in 11 years, the spokesman said.
The two hope to learn directly from Mr. Kim whether the North is interested in negotiating
an end to his nuclear weapons program through a dialogue with the United States.
