Kim Jong-Un Holds Surprise Second Summit With South Korea President Moon

North Korea’s president Kim Jong Un held a surprise two-hour second summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the truce village of Panmunjom on Saturday afternoon to pave way for a summit between North Korea and the United States.

The South Korean presidential office said the two leaders met at the DPRK side of the border village of Panmunjom from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm local time on Saturday, where they “candidly discussed the potential Trump-Kim summit”, and exchanged their opinions on implementing the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration.

Moon will release the result of the summit at 10:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, South Korea’s Blue House said, without elaborating further.

The two leaders previously met on the South Korean side of Panmunjom on April 27, reaching a historic agreement on the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the change of the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty.

Their second summit came after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States will possibly reinstate the meeting with Kim. Late on Friday Trump said that “we are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.”

We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018

Trump on Thursday surprised the world when he sent a letter to the DPRK leader, saying that their originally planned meeting in Singapore on June 12 will not happen. DPRK’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan responded then that his country is ready to sit down with the United States anytime in any manner for talks to solve the problems existing between them.

China also chimed in on China, when it said that it hoped the DPRK and the U.S. would cherish the recent progress and continue to address mutual concerns via dialogue and push for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The South Korean government also said Friday that Seoul planned to continue diplomatic efforts to maintain a dialogue momentum between the DPRK and the United States. According to the Blue House, at a National Security Council (NSC) meeting held on Friday, the NSC members shared a view that efforts to improve inter-Korean relations will contribute to enhance relations between Pyongyang and Washington and complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.