Updated
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has agreed to hold a landmark summit meeting with South Korea's President next month and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests if his country holds talks with the United States, a senior South Korean official has said.
Key points:
- The talks between the two Korean leaders will take place in late April
- A 10-member South Korean delegation met with Kim Jong-un during a 2-day visit to Pyongyang
- The two past summits were held between Kim's late father, Kim Jong Il, and two liberal South Korean presidents
South Korea's presidential national security director Chung Eui-yong said the two Koreas agreed to hold their third-ever summit at a tense border village in late April.
He also said the leaders will establish a "hotline" communication channel to lower military tensions, and would speak together before the planned summit.
Mr Chung led a 10-member South Korean delegation that met with Mr Kim during a two-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital. They returned on Tuesday.
The agreements follow a flurry of cooperative steps taken by the Koreas during last month's Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea.
Tensions had run high during the previous year because of a barrage of North Korean weapons tests.
The two past summits, in 2000 and 2007, were held between Kim's late father, Kim Jong-il, and two liberal South Korean presidents.
They resulted in a series of cooperative projects between the Koreas that were scuttled during subsequent conservative administrations in South Korea.
Halt in nuclear tests during talks
Mr Chung said North Korea agreed to suspend nuclear and missile tests for as long as it holds talks with the United States.
"North Korea made clear its willingness to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula and the fact there is no reason for it to have a nuclear programme if military threats against the North are resolved and its regime is secure," Mr Chung said.
The North said it would have "frank talks" with the US on denuclearisation and the normalisation of ties between the two states, Mr Chung said.
Reacting to the news, US President Donald Trump tweeted: "We will see what happens!"
In a later tweet, Mr Trump said he saw the talks as "possible progress" but warned it may be "false hope".
The prospect of talks between the isolated North and the UN helped boost global stock markets, with the broadest gauge of global shares, MSCI's All Country World Index, rising 0.6 per cent and US stock futures pointing to a higher opening on Wall Street.
North and South Korea are still technically at war, but have been enjoying a sharp easing in tension since the Winter Olympics in the South last month.
AP/Reuters
Topics: world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, treaties-and-alliances, foreign-affairs, korea-republic-of, korea-democratic-peoples-republic-of, asia, united-states
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