Kim Jong-un hosts Seoul envoys for first time since taking power

Bloomberg

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held talks with top aides to South Korea’s Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang on Monday, the president’s office said, in the first meeting between the leader of the isolated nation and officials from Seoul since he took power in 2011.
National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong and National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon were in the North Korean capital to persuade Kim to start talks with the US on denuclearisation and stave off a potential conflict over his nuclear program. The envoys also planned to discuss with Pyongyang officials the release of three Korean-Americans detained in North Korea.
Kim, who came to power in 2011, hosted the pair for a dinner that started at 6 pm Seoul time, a spokesman for Moon told a briefing. The delegation arrived around
2:50 pm. The South Korean envoys are due to travel to Washington later this week to discuss the results of their discussions with the Trump administration. Their two-day trip follows a visit by Kim’s sister to South Korea last month, when she invited Moon to North Korea to meet her brother for what would be the first inter-Korean summit for 11 years.
The Winter Olympics — including the Paralympics that run March 9-18 — have provided a window to rebuild diplomatic ties after an escalating series of North Korean weapons tests last year prompted United Nations sanctions and threats of military action by US President Donald Trump. While both the US and North Korea say they’re open to talks, it’s unclear how much either side is
willing to concede.
Trump and Moon spoke about the situation in a 30-minute phone call last week. The White House said the leaders “noted their firm position that any dialogue with North Korea must be conducted with the explicit and unwavering goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation.”
Kim’s government says nuclear weapons are necessary to deter any US-led military action. A North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson told the official Korean Central News Agency that the country wouldn’t accept US preconditions.
“We have intention to resolve issues in a diplomatic and peaceful way through dialogue and negotiation, but we will neither beg for dialogue nor evade the military option claimed by the US,” the spokesperson said.
Moon is seeking a way to carry out US-South Korea military drills expected to start shortly after the Paralympics without provoking a response from Kim. North Korea has denounced annual exercises as a rehearsal for war and accused the US of trying to scuttle the peace.
The make-up of Moon’s 10-member delegation shows his efforts to bridge the divide. Suh helped coordinate two previous inter-Korean summits during his 30-year career with the intelligence agency, while Chung manages South Korea’s relations with the Trump administration.
China, which is eager to avoid any conflict on its border that could escalate into a confrontation with the US, has advocated a similar “suspension-for-suspension” framework to get both sides back to the negotiating table.
“We are happy to see this positive change and hope that all parties will seize favorable opportunities and continue easing the situation,” Zhang Yesui, a vice Chinese foreign minister, told a briefing in Beijing. “We hope to see that North Korea and the United States can start a dialogue as soon as possible.”