SEOUL, Sept 16 (AFP): South Korean President Moon Jae-in travels to Pyongyang this week for his third summit with Kim Jong Un, looking to break the deadlock in nuclear talks between North Korea and the United States.
Moon - whose own parents fled the North during the Korean War - flies north on Tuesday for a three-day trip, following in the footsteps of his predecessors Kim Dae-jung in 2000 and mentor Roh Moo-hyun in 2007.
No details of the programmeme have been announced, but Pyongyang is likely to pull out all the stops to create a good impression, with tens of thousands of people lining the streets to welcome him.
The visit comes after the North put on its "Mass Games" propaganda display for the first time in five years.
The new show featured imagery of Kim and Moon at their first summit in April in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the peninsula - prompting the unusual sight of tens of thousands of North Koreans in the May Day Stadium applauding pictures of Seoul's leader.
One diplomatic source predicted the visit would see "Kim and Moon together receiving the same sort of applause".
But while the Panmunjom summit was high on headline-grabbing symbolism, with Moon stepping briefly into the North and the two sharing an extended one-to-one woodland chat, pressure is mounting for substantive progress.
Moon seeks to break nuclear deadlock at Pyongyang summit
FE Team | Published: September 16, 2018 21:52:49
Moon seeks to break nuclear deadlock at Pyongyang summit
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