Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un were all smiles at the start of a summit in Pyongyang. Despite the warm greeting, a lack of progress in denuclearization talks means it will be Moon's most challenging summit yet.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/APTN/KBS
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived in Pyongyang for his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, with denuclearization and ending the Korean War high on the docket.
The two leaders exchanged smiles and a warm embrace at the start of the summit, in the first visit by a South Korean leader to Pyongyang in 11 years.
Moon is also traveling with a contingent of South Korean business executives, including Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, as part of an effort to boost cross-border business projects. Those projects are currently on hold due to US sanctions.
At the start of their formal talks on Tuesday, Kim thanked Moon for brokering the "historic" meeting with US President Donald Trump in Singapore, saying the talks helped stabilize the region.
"Thanks to that, the political situation in the region has stabilized and I expect more advanced results," Kim told Moon, according to South Korean press pool reports.
A second round of official talks will also take place on Wednesday, after which they are expected to release a joint statement as well as a military pact to prevent armed clashes. Moon will head back to South Korea early Thursday morning.
Kim and Moon exchanged hugs at the airport in PyongyangImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Korea Broadcasting System
"This summit would be very meaningful if it yielded a resumption of North Korea-U.S. talks," Moon said. "It's very important for South and North Korea to meet frequently, and we are turning to a phase where we can meet anytime we want."
Moon is under pressure from Washington to push for progress in dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Trump's administration has said it wants Pyongyang to take concrete steps towards denuclearization before they will agree to declaring an end to the 1950-1953 Korean War — one of Kim's key goals.
Denuclearization talks have stalled since Trump and Kim met in Singapore in June. During their summit, the two generally agreed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but did not set out a concrete plan.
Although North Korea has dismantled its nuclear and rocket-engine testing sites, a UN report said there has been little to no evidence that Pyongyang has scaled back its nuclear program.
North Korea's 70th anniversary military parade highlighted the communist nation's economic development instead of nuclear accomplishments; a shift analysts say is aimed at allaying the West's concerns.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Jones
No ballistic missile show-off
Every year on September 9, North Korea celebrates its birthday by holding a military parade in the capital, Pyongyang. Unlike previous years, this year the regime chose to refrain from showing off its long-range missiles and instead exhibited projects that highlighted the country's economic achievements.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Jones
North Korea turns 70
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the North is officially known, was proclaimed on September 9, 1948, three years after the former Soviet Union and the United State divided the peninsula between them in the closing days of World War II. The peninsula has remained split since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/K. Cheung
A different sight
On Sunday, thousands of North Korean troops, followed by artillery and military tanks, paraded through Pyongyang, but the celebration lacked the usual jingoism that has been associated with the isolated regime for decades. Immediately after the parade, thousands of citizens rallied through Kim Il Sung Square, displaying economic themes and calls for Korean reunification.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Jones
Flowers, not missiles
Civilian groups carried flags and flowers in a bid to demonstrate a softer image of the country. "It looks like the North Koreans really tried to tone down the military nature of this," Chad O'Carroll, managing director of Korea Risk Group, told the Agence France-Presse news agency. Any display of intercontinental ballistic missiles would cast doubt on its commitment to denuclearization, he added.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Jones
No Kim address
North Koran leader Kim Jong Un was present at the parade but did not address the assembled crowd. He showed off his country's friendship with China by raising the hand of President Xi Jinping's envoy as they saluted the crowd together afterwards.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/Kyodo News/M. Iwasaki
Stalled peace process
In a historic meeting with US President Donald Trump in June, Kim pledged to work toward denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. But Kim's efforts to ease tensions with the US have stalled since the Singapore meeting. While Washington insists Pyongyang commits to denuclearization first, the Kim regime wants the removal of sanctions and a peace agreement with the South to end the Korean War.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/N. H. Guan
Positive moves
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who will meet Kim for a summit in Pyongyang on September 18, will try to persuade the North Korean leader to take concrete steps toward denuclearization. On September 5, Kim said he wanted to denuclearize during US President Donald Trump's first term, to which Trump replied on Twitter: "We will get it done together."
