Roundup: S. Korea hints at trilateral summit with DPRK, U.S., to offer high-level talks with DPRK

SEOUL, March 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in hinted Wednesday at a possible trilateral summit with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States under situations that make progress.

Moon made the remarks during the second plenary session of the presidential committee to prepare for the agreed summit with top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, according to the Blue House.

Moon and Kim agreed to hold their first summit in late April at Peace House, a South Korean building in the truce village of Panmunjom.

If held as agreed upon, Kim would become the first DPRK leader to set foot on the South Korean territory since the 1950-53 Korean war ended in armistice. The Korean Peninsula remains technically in a state of war.

The Moon-Kim talks will be followed by the DPRK-U.S. summit. U.S. President Donald Trump said he will meet Kim by the end of May to achieve a permanent denuclearization.

Moon said it would mark the first time that an inter-Korean summit is held in Panmunjom, and even at the South Korean side, and that the summit is held within a year after a South Korean president's inauguration.

The South Korean leader, who took office in May last year, said the DPRK-U.S. summit, which follows the inter-Korean summit, will have a significant meaning in the history.

He said more dramatic scene can be seen depending on a dialogue venue, noting that it could lead to a three-way summit between South Korea, the DPRK and the United States according to situations that make progress.

Moon did not elaborate, but his comment indicated the trilateral summit is being tapped as one of options to bring a dramatic agreement between Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington regarding the peninsula's denuclearization.

Through the upcoming summits and their subsequent meetings, South Korea should completely resolve issues concerning peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, Moon said.

Whether the two Koreas live together or not, Moon said, the two sides should create an environment in which they neither intervene in each other nor damage each other while living prosperously and peacefully together.

Moon said his administration had a clear goal and vision, referring to denuclearization and permanent peace regime on the peninsula, normalized relations between Pyongyang and Washington, improved inter-Korean relations and economic cooperation between the DPRK and the United States as well as South Korea.

To prepare for the upcoming inter-Korean summit, South Korea will offer to hold a high-level dialogue with the DPRK on March 29 at Tongilgak, a DPRK building in Panmunjom that straddles the two Koreas.

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will lead the three-member South Korean delegation. Two other members will be officials from the Blue House and the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the country's spy agency, the Blue House spokesman said.

During the senior-level dialogue, South Korea will propose to discuss basic matters for the April summit, including summit schedules, dialogue agenda and delegations from each side.

Moon ordered the summit preparation committee to make preparations for parliamentary ratification of the agreement, which will be reached during the April summit between Moon and Kim, as well as the agreements already reached in the first and second inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007 each.

He emphasized the importance for institutionalized agreements between the two Koreas to permanently push for them regardless of political situations in South Korea.

Moon also stressed that peace settlement on the peninsula requires the U.S. guarantee and normalized U.S.-DPRK relations, and even economic cooperation between Pyongyang and Washington, asking the preparation committee to keep those goals in mind to prepare for the inter-Korean summit. Enditem