The leaders of North and South Korea are meeting in Pyongyang for a crucial summit aimed at reviving stalled denuclearisation talks.
Speaking ahead of his trip, President Moon vowed to push for “irreversible, permanent peace” and better dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington during the “heart-to-heart” talks.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Moon added that he hoped “to find a middle ground between a US request for denuclearisation and the North's request for corresponding measures such as ending hostile relations and security assurances”.
The South Korean leader is under intense pressure to restart negotiations and get Kim to do more to demonstrate to the US that he is serious about denuclearisation, the Financial Times says.
Kim, meanwhile, “will be seeking to pressure Seoul to increase economic co-operation with his impoverished state,” the newspaper says.
The thaw in relations began when the pair first met in April and Kim committed to “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” paving the way for a landmark meeting with US President Donald Trump in June.
But “as the flurry of diplomacy quieted down, there has been little progress in the US goal of North Korea relinquishing its nuclear arsenal,” says The Guardian.
Significant gaps in negotiations remain, and it is unclear how the current deadlock can be broken.
Washington has demanded North Korea unilaterally disarm before any sanctions relief is granted, while North Korean officials insist they have already made concessions by closing nuclear and rocket test sites, the newspaper reports.
However, “experts and satellite images suggest North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear program and there has been new construction at its only known nuclear plant,” the paper adds.
-
Political cartoons for January 19Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Greenland tariffs, fighting the Fed, and more
-
Spain’s deadly high-speed train crashThe Explainer The country experienced its worst rail accident since 2013, with the death toll of 39 ‘not yet final’
-
Can Starmer continue to walk the Trump tightrope?Today's Big Question PM condemns US tariff threat but is less confrontational than some European allies
-
Iran in flames: will the regime be toppled?In Depth The moral case for removing the ayatollahs is clear, but what a post-regime Iran would look like is anything but
-
Europe moves troops to Greenland as Trump fixatesSpeed Read Foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met at the White House yesterday
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Trump, Iran trade threats as protest deaths riseSpeed Read The death toll in Iran has surpassed 500
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
What do the people of Greenland want for their future?As Europe prevaricates over US threats for annexation there is a unifying feeling of self-determination among Greenlanders
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Venezuela ‘turning over’ oil to US, Trump saysSpeed Read This comes less than a week after Trump captured the country’s president
