South Korea’s president will send a delegation led by his national security director to North Korea today for talks on how to ease nuclear tensions and help arrange the restart of dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington, officials said yesterday.
They would be the first known South Korean special envoys to travel to Pyongyang in about 10 years.
Their trip comes amid a rare moment of goodwill between the rivals stemming from the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Photo: AP
The 10-member delegation headed by South Korean National Security Director Chung Eui-yong is to fly to Pyongyang this afternoon for a two-day visit that includes talks with unidentified senior North Korean officials.
The discussions will deal with how to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula, improve ties between the Koreas and foster an environment to realize the resumption of talks between Pyongyang and Washington, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s office said.
After its Pyongyang trip, the delegation is to visit Washington to brief US officials about its talks with the North Korean officials, senior presidential official Yoon Young-chan said at a televised news conference.
He said the delegation would include South Korean National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon and Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung.
US officials have said North Korea must take serious disarmament steps before talks can restart, and North Korea has insisted it will not place its nuclear program on the negotiating table.
South Korea has sent special envoys to Pyongyang in the past to reach breakthrough deals aimed at reducing animosities and securing higher-level talks. The Koreas’ two past summit talks, one in 2000 and the other in 2007, were both held after ranking South Korean officials went to Pyongyang and worked out details of the summits in advance.
The last known South Korean special envoy to travel to Pyongyang was the nation’s intelligence chief, who visited a few months before the 2007 summit.
During the recently concluded Olympics, the two Koreas fielded their first joint Olympic squad in women’s ice hockey and had their athletes parade together during the opening ceremony.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also sent senior officials, including his influential younger sister, to the start and close of the Games, and they met Moon and conveyed Kim’s invitation to visit Pyongyang for what would be the third inter-Korean summit.
Those North Korean officials also told Moon that they were willing to restart talks with the US.
US President Donald Trump responded by saying talks will happen only “under the right conditions.”
Moon has yet to accept Kim’s invitation to visit Pyongyang.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry