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Chung Eui-yong, head of the National Security Bureau, goes aboard a plane while other members of the delegation leave for Pyongyang, North Korea, at the airport. Seongnam, south of Seoul, South Korea. 5 2018. The South Korean high-level delegation has gone to North Korea to discuss arrangements for an inter-Korean summit this month, as relations cool down between Washington and Pyongyang. (Jung Yeon-i / Pool Photo via AP) (Associated Press)
SEOUL, South Korea – The latest news on a forthcoming inter-Korean summit (local at all times):
11:45
An official of the South Korean presidency said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had told him he still had faith in US President Donald Trump despite persistent difficulties in nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
Chung Eui-yong said Thursday that Kim had stressed at a meeting in Pyongyang on Wednesday that he had never spoken of Trump to anyone, including his closest advisers.
Chung said Kim wants North Korea and the United States to end their seven decades of hostile relations before the end of Trump's first term.
After their June summit in Singapore, Trump and Kim announced a vague statement about a denuclearized peninsula without describing when and how it would occur. Nuclear negotiations after the summit were difficult and quickly ended in deadlock.
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11:40
A South Korean leader said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told him that a declaration to formally end the 1950-53 Korean war would not weaken the alliance. US-South Korea or would not lead to the withdrawal of US troops in South Korea.
Chung Eui-yong said Kim agreed with South Korea's position that a declaration of end-of-war would help build confidence between countries as they move forward in the process of denuclearization and stabilization. the peace.
US officials have insisted that a peace declaration can not be made until North Korea takes more concrete steps to abandon its nuclear weapons.
While an end-of-war declaration would not imply a legally-binding peace treaty, experts say it could create momentum that would facilitate northern talks toward diplomatic recognition and security concessions.
The Korean War stopped on an armistice and technically left the Korean Peninsula at war.
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11:20 am
A South Korean presidential official said a trilateral summit between Washington, Seoul and Pyongyang at the US General Assembly in New York this month is unlikely to happen.
Chung Eui-yong told reporters Thursday that the conditions for such a meeting had not been created.
South Korea has called for a trilateral meeting, or a four-nation meeting that also includes Beijing, to declare the official end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The war ended on an armistice and technically left the Korean peninsula at war.
According to Chung, such a statement would boost confidence between the United States and North Korea and help advance negotiations to dismantle the nuclear program in the North. North Korea also called for an end-of-war declaration, but US officials insisted that such a declaration could not be made until the North took more concrete steps in favor of denuclearization.
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11:10
South Korea said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had told him that the dismantling of its main rocket launch site implied the "complete suspension" of all future long-range ballistic missile tests.
A senior South Korean official, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters on Thursday that Kim had made the remarks while reaffirming his commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula during their meeting in Pyongyang this week.
Since the beginning of the negotiations this year, North Korea has taken several measures, such as the dismantling of parts of its main rocket launch site and the closure of its nuclear test site. But US officials say North Korea must take more serious disarmament measures.
According to Chung, the dismantling of the Tongchang-ri rocket site means that no long-range missile test will be conducted as it is the only long-range rocket test site.
He says that Kim also told him that no other nuclear test would be possible at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site as it was completely dismantled.
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11:00
Seoul said leaders of the two Koreas would meet in Pyongyang from September 18-20 to discuss how to achieve the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula".
Senior presidential official Chung Eui-yong told reporters Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had also reaffirmed his "strong determination" to achieve a nuclear-free democratization when he met him on Wednesday. Pyongyang.
Chung's trip took place in a context of stalled diplomacy over North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea has taken several steps such as dismantling its nuclear test site this year, but the United States wants it to take more serious disarmament measures.
Chung said Kim's summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in will focus on specific measures to achieve denuclearization.
He says the Koreas will have talks next week to prepare for the summit.
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10:20
The North Korean media has issued a statement by leader Kim Jong Un that reaffirms his commitment to a denuclearized Korean peninsula in a growing conflict with the United States.
The statement from the Korean central news agency followed a high-level visit by the South Korean delegation to Pyongyang to meet Kim and hold a summit between him and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Kim paraphrased that it was "his desire to completely eliminate the danger of armed conflict and horror of war on the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats" .
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