남북고위급회담 종료... '정상회담 9월안에 평양에서 가지기로'
This afternoon, the two Koreas wrapped up their fourth round of high-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjom.
And they agreed that the next inter-Korean summit will take place in Pyongyang in September.
For more, we connect to our unification ministry correspondent Oh Jung-hee who's standing by at the Office for Inter-Korean Dialogue.
Jung-hee, what are you hearing?
Devin, just as you've said, the delegations from Seoul and Pyongyang have agreed to hold the next and third inter-Korean summit of this year in September, though they haven't fixed a date.
And South Korean President Moon Jae-in will be making his way up to the North Korean capital for the summit, as agreed at the first summit in April.
Wrapping up today's talks, the delegations agreed that they were able to get a general overview of what they've accomplished in terms of implementing the April summit agreement -- such as cooperation in railway and road connections, forestation, opening up a joint liason office and holding family reunions.
What really caught our attention is how the North Korean side warned that some (quote)"unexpected" problems could arise if some obstacles to improving inter-Korean relations aren't removed.
Take a look at what North Korea's reunification committee chairman Ri Son-gwon had to say:
"It's very important that we quickly get rid of obstacles that hinder the improvement of inter-Korean relations. That will be crucial to developing our ties and carrying things out according to schedule. If these issues aren't resolved, then some unexpected problems could occur and our plans could face difficulties."
We're not completely sure what that "unexpected problems" refers to.
But we are speculating that the North Korean side would have brought up the issue of sanctions during the meeting and urged Seoul to get more involved in alleviating them.
To remind you, Pyongyang's propaganda websites have slammed Seoul for joining the international sanctions campaign.
Alright Jung-hee.
But as you said, we still don't know exactly when the summit will happen. "In September" is pretty broad.
Yeah, unfortunately we have no clue about the exact date.
To begin with, speaking with South Korean reporters separately after the high-level talks, Seoul's unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon completely ruled out the possibility of the summit being held this month.
According to him, the two Koreas will need more working-level discussions to settle on a specific date, but he stressed, that with today's meeting, Seoul and Pyongyang have kick-started preparations for the summit.
As we all know, September is a busy month -- the North Korean regime celebrates the 70th anniversary of its establishment on September 9th. Also, the UN General Assembly kicks off in New York in the latter half of the month.
