SKorea open to summit with North’s Kim, but it won’t be easy
SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — It’s been more than a decade since the leaders of the two Koreas have held a summit. Could it happen now?
South Korean President Moon Jae-in told reporters Wednesday that he remains open to a meeting with North Korea’s leader, if it would improve the strained relations between their two countries and help resolve the global standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons development.
It’s not a new position for Moon, who took office in May, but it took on new meaning coming one day after high-level officials from the two Koreas held a rare and apparently successful meeting, agreeing on the North’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics in the South.
A meeting between the two leaders isn’t likely in the immediate future. The North’s Kim Jong Un hasn’t met any foreign leader since he succeeded his father in 2011, and attitudes have hardened since the only two previous Korean summits in 2000 and 2007, when South Korean presidents were pursuing a “Sunshine Policy” of trying to win over the North through engagement and aid.