North, South Korea seek peace, denuclearisation in historic summit

28 Apr, 2018

The leaders of North and South Korea embraced on Friday after pledging to work for the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", on a day of smiles and handshakes at the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade.
The two Koreas announced they would work with the United States and China this year to declare an official end to the 1950s Korean War and seek an agreement on "permanent" and "solid" peace.
The declaration included promises to pursue phased arms reduction, cease hostile acts, transform their fortified border into a peace zone and seek multilateral talks with other countries including the United States. "The two leaders declare before our people of 80 million and the entire world there will be no more war on the Korean peninsula and a new age of peace has begun," the two sides.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to visit the North Korean capital of Pyongyang this year, they said. Earlier, North Korea's Kim Jong Un became the first North Korean leader since the 1950-53 Korean War to set foot in South Korea after shaking hands with his counterpart over a concrete curb marking the border in the heavily fortified demilitarised zone.
Scenes of Moon and Kim joking and walking together marked a striking contrast to last year's barrage of North Korean missile tests and its largest ever nuclear test that led to sweeping international sanctions and fears of war.
Their meeting comes weeks before Kim is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in what would be the first ever meeting between sitting leaders of the two countries.
Trump welcomed the Korean talks. "After a furious year of missile launches and Nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place. Good things are happening, but only time will tell!" he said on Twitter.
He later added: "KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!" China, North Korea's main ally, welcomed the leaders' statement and said it was willing to keep playing a proactive role in promoting political solutions.

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