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Panmunjom : South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, left, poses with North Korean delegation head Ri Son Gwon for photographers before their meeting at the northern side of the Panmunjom, North Korea, Thursday, March 29, 2018. High-level officials from North and South Korea began talks at a border village Thursday to prepare for an April summit between their leaders amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the standoff over the North's nuclear program. AP/PTI(AP3_29_2018_000005B)[/caption]
Seoul, March 29 (IANS): South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet on April 27 for the first time since 2007, the two countries announced on Thursday after high-level talks.
The two leaders will meet at the Peace House on the southern side of the border village of Panmunjom, Yonhap News Agency quoted an official joint statement as saying.
It will mark the third inter-Korean summit following those in 2000 and 2007 which were held in Pyongyang.
Senior officials from both sides exchanged views in an amicable atmosphere, reflecting the recent detente on the Korean Peninsula.
“Over the past 80 days, there have been many dramatic events that have not been seen earlier,” Ri Son-gwon, the North’s chief delegate, said at the start of the meeting.
The April summit will likely serve as a critical venue for discussions to resolve the North’s nuclear issue.
Thursday’s talks came after Kim made a surprise visit to China this week for his first summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of his meetings with Moon and US President Donald Trump in May.
South Korea’s Moon has long been pushing hard for diplomatic relations with North Korea, saying at his swearing-in ceremony in 2017 “for peace on the Korean Peninsula, I will do everything that I can do”.
