3.000 reporters to cover Moon-Kim summit
By Kang Seung-woo
More than 3,000 journalists from around the world will gather in Korea this week to cover the historic inter-Korean summit.
President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Panmunjeom truce village, Friday, for the third meeting of its kind between the two Koreas. The previous meetings were in June 2000 and October 2007.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday, 2,833 journalists from 348 local and foreign media outlets had registered for the summit as of last Wednesday.
However, the presidential office plans to accept additional applications on the day of the summit at the main press center that will be set up at the KINTEX convention center in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, raising expectations that the number of journalists will surpass 3,000. The center will be open at 9 a.m., Thursday.
The number of journalists attending will be more than double the number that covered the two previous summits, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
The first summit between former President Kim Dae-jung and former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un's late father, drew 1,392 reporters from 242 media outlets. The second meeting between former President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim attracted 1,315 journalists from 276 media outlets.
Only a handful of the registered journalists will form a joint press corp to cover the historical event on site. The rest will wait at the press center for the outcome of the summit.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, all scheduled events will be transmitted to the world in real time through the “Smart Press Center,” which will connect the press room at Panmunjeom, the main press center at KINTEX and the summit's online platform.
This will allow the world to view the talks live.
The summit comes as tensions on the Korean Peninsula are abating, with the North Korean regime apparently serious about denuclearization.
According to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency, Saturday, the country will suspend its nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles. It will also close its nuclear test site, where the previous six nuclear tests were conducted -- four of them under the younger Kim's leadership.
The North Korean leader also plans to hold a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in late May or early June, raising expectations that the reclusive state may propose concrete steps toward full denuclearization.