Moon-Kim summit to begin Friday morning; end with official dinner

By Kim Bo-eun

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet at the truce village of Panmunjeom, Friday morning, Cheong Wa Dae said after the last working-level preparation meeting was held Monday.

The exact time the summit will begin was not disclosed. Because the meeting will be held on the South's side of Panmunjeom, Seoul will hold a welcoming ceremony for Kim. He will be the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South. A dinner between the leaders will take place after the summit.

The Koreas agreed for South Korean reporters to cross over to the North's side of Panmunjeom to cover the North Korean delegation's crossing of the military demarcation line (MDL).

The North will send an advance team to Panmunjeom, Wednesday, to make preparations for the delegation.

The route Kim will take to cross the MDL to reach the Peace House on the South's side of Panmunjeom, the delegations to the summit, the attendance of the first ladies, whether a luncheon and joint press conference will take place and details of the schedule will be announced Thursday, Cheong Wa Dae said.

Officials from the North and South held a three-and-a-half-hour meeting at Panmunjeom to finalize details on security, protocol and press coverage.

The officials will virtually stay at the truce village for rehearsals and last-minute preparations. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has cleared his schedule to focus on preparing for the summit.

The summit will be broadcast live, beginning with the historic scene of Moon and Kim shaking hands. It will be the third inter-Korean summit, following the first and second between Kim Jong-un's father Kim Jong-il and South Korean Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun in 2000 and 2007, respectively. It will be the first summit broadcast live.

Attention is focusing on any agreement the Koreas could reach to pave way for the North's denuclearization. It is possible they may also discuss prospects of ending the Korean War, which ended in an armistice, replacing it with a peace treaty.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump positively evaluated North Korea's declaration Saturday to suspend nuclear and missile testing and shut down its Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

While critics pointed out the statement was merely a nuclear freeze and not a pledge to give up its nuclear program, the U.S. president credited the declaration as “denuclearization.”

“We haven't given up anything and they have agreed to denuclearization, site closure and no more testing,” Trump posted on Twitter Sunday (local time).

North Korea did not mention the term “denuclearization” in its statement. The regime made it explicit that tests would be suspended because there was no need for them, as its development of nuclear weapons was complete.

Speculations arose that Trump's remarks may have been made based on inside information. U.S. Secretary of State appointee Mike Pompeo met multiple times with Kim in Pyongyang earlier this month.

The U.S. president, however, conceded the process would take time.

“We are a long way from conclusion on North Korea,” he tweeted shortly afterward.

The remarks come as the U.S. and North Korean leaders are expected to meet in late May or early June following the inter-Korean summit.

North Korea's summits with the South and the U.S. were arranged after the Koreas entered a phase of rapprochement, after Pyongyang participated in the Winter Olympics in the South. North Korea's nuclear and missile tests continued throughout last year, heightening tension on the peninsula.

The North Korean leader's sister invited Moon for talks with her brother during her visit to the Games, and an inter-Korean summit was subsequently arranged. Pyongyang also proposed talks with Washington to discuss its denuclearization, to which Trump immediately agreed.