2 Koreas to Meet Monday to Discuss Next Summit

Officials from North and South Korea are to meet in the border truce village of Panmunjom next Monday to prepare for the next summit.

The Unification Ministry said Thursday that North Korea proposed the meeting to check on progress in implementing the agreement from the first summit in April and also to discuss another meeting between their leaders. 

President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed at the April summit to meet again in autumn, but Seoul wants to bring the meeting forward to late August because denuclearization talks between North Korea and the U.S. have stalled and it wants to mediate.

Seoul hopes the summit will happen before North Korea marks its 70th anniversary on Sept. 9.

One former Unification Ministry official said, "North Korea had expected to sign a declaration ending the Korean War and get regime security guarantees through back-to-back summits with South Korea and the U.S., but things have not turned out that way. North Korea will try to pressure South Korea to make good on the agreements made during the inter-Korean summit."