Pyongyang (March 06): North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted a dinner for a high-ranking South Korean delegation in Pyongyang on Monday, according to a South Korean government official.
It’s believed to be the first time the young leader has spoken face-to-face with officials from the South since he took power in 2011. Among those Kim met were South Korea’s national security chief, Chung Eui-yong, and the country’s spy chief, Suh Hoon.
Their trip north is part of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s attempt to broker a diplomatic solution to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in the wake of the thaw brought about by North Korea’s attendance at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics last month.
It’s a dramatic departure from 2017, when a string of North Korean weapons tests and hostile rhetoric from US President Donald Trump and Kim heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The United States has said it would be willing to meet with North Korea, but has always insisted that Pyongyang eventually abandon its nuclear weapons program as part of any talks.
“They called up a couple of days ago and said, ‘We would like to talk,'” Trump said. “And I said, ‘So would we, but you have to de-nuke. You have to de-nuke.’ So let’s see what happens. Let’s see what happens.”
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, for its part, accused the US this weekend of refusing to recognize realities on the ground and putting forward unrealistic roadblocks to dialogue.
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