Two Koreas in high-level talks fix April 27 for first summit

SEOUL, Mar 29 (Agencies): Senior officials of the two Koreas met Thursday to prepare for a rare inter-Korean summit, days after the nuclear-armed North's leader Kim Jong Un made his international debut with a surprise trip to China.

North and South Korea will hold their first summit in more than a decade on April 27, South Korean officials said on Thursday, after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged his commitment to denuclearisation as tensions ease between the old foes.

South Korean officials, who announced the summit date after high-level talks with North Korean counterparts, said the summit agenda would largely be the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and an improvement of inter-Korean relations.

The two Koreas had agreed to hold the summit at the border truce village of Panmunjom when South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent a delegation to Pyongyang this month to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Thursday's meeting was the first high-level dialogue between the two Koreas since the delegation returned from the North.

Kim is due to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in late April at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, followed by landmark talks with US President Donald Trump which could come as early as May.

At the Unification Pavilion on Panmunjom's northern side, the leader of Pyongyang's delegation Ri Son Gwon said Thursday's talks were aimed at paving the way for a meeting between the leaders of North and South-the first direct public reference to a summit by any Northern official or media outlet.

"Over the past 80 days or so, many events that were unprecedented in inter-Korean relations took place," noted Ri, who is chairman of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country.

The head of Seoul's three-member delegation, unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon, told journalists earlier that setting a date for the summit, the third of its kind after meetings in 2000 and 2007, would be a key agenda item.

"We will have good discussions with the North to successfully hold the inter-Korea summit in April," Cho said.

Events have moved quickly since then, with a flurry of official visits between the two Koreas and an advance team of Southern performers heading north on Thursday ahead of K-pop concerts in Pyongyang.

It was the North Korean leader's first overseas trip since inheriting power after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in 2011.

China has long been the North's key diplomatic defender and provider of trade and aid, but relations have been strained by Pyongyang's weapons programmes, with Beijing showing a new willingness to implement UN sanctions against it.

Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach arrived in North Korea on Thursday after playing a key role in allowing it to participate in last month's Pyeongchang Olympic Games in South Korea.

Bach was met at Pyongyang's international airport by North Korean Sports Minister Kim Il Guk and Jang Ung, the country's Olympic committee member.

The two sides said in a joint statement they would hold a working-level meeting on April 4 to discuss details of the summit, such as staffing support, security and news releases.