South Korea urges North to implement agreements signed by Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, resume dialogue

Seoul: South Korea on Thursday urged North Korea to fulfill the agreements reached during the inter-Korean summit and to resume talks a day after Pyongyang cancelled a high-level meeting with Seoul and said it was reconsidering its participation in the upcoming summit with the US.

The message was issued by the standing committee of South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC) after North Korea cancelled Wednesday’s talks for implementing the Panmunjom Declaration signed on 27 April between its leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, EFE news reported.

“While reaffirming their stance that the declaration…must be carried out without any disruption, the members agreed to continue consulting with the North side to hold the high-level talks at an early date,” the committee said in a statement.

In the declaration, both the countries had agreed to work for establishing peace and denuclearising the Korean peninsula.

The council, headed by top security advisor Chung Eui-yong, also backed the summit between Kim and the US president Donald Trump, on 12 June in Singapore, although Pyongyang’s statements on Wednesday raised doubts about its future.

The NSC said it would boost cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Pyongyang to make the summit a success “under the spirit of mutual respect”.

North Korea had announced that it was reconsidering its participation in the summit, alleging that the US wanted to pressurise it to accept a complete unilateral nuclear disarmament, a condition which it termed unacceptable.