Koreas pledge to increase ties
October 15, 2018
In a third meeting this year, senior officials from North and South Korea have agreed to bolster military, sporting and diplomatic ties in talks aimed at resolving ongoing denuclearization issues.
During the talks in the border village of Panmunjom on Monday, the two sides discussed ways to execute the peace agreements announced after a summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.
Kim and US President Donald Trump issued vague pledges after the famous Singapore summit this June to work towards the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." But the agreement had few specifics and talks have stalled since.
Read more: Kim-Moon summit: Is North Korea just buying time with empty concessions?
Pyongyang has stopped nuclear and missile tests this year, but has yet to allow international inspectors to visit the Punggye-ri site that the North claims to have destroyed.
Military, sport and transport
In Monday's talks, the two Koreas agreed to set up a joint military committee aimed at reducing border tensions, South Korea's Unification Ministry said on Monday.
The ministry said they had also agreed to hold a ceremony in late November or early December to discuss a planned project to connect their railways and roads, and to hold talks between sports officials in late October over plans to send combined teams to the 2020 Summer Olympics.
to co-host the 2032 Summer Games and said they would hold Red Cross talks in November to set up video-conference meetings between aging relatives separated after the end of the Korean War in 1953.
Moon visiting Macron in Paris
Moon, who is meeting French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is sincere and "really means" to abandon nuclear weapons.
jbh/msh (Reuters, AP)