South Korea ‘to send high-level delegation to North’
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South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyun (3rd-R) shaking hands with North Korean chief delegate Ri Son-gwon (3rd-L)
South Korea has announced a decision to send a high-level political delegation to the North, raising hopes for a diplomatic solution to the decades-long conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
The South Korean presidential office announced on Sunday that a special 10-member government delegation was to visit North Korea on Monday.
“The special delegates will have extensive discussions over issues including creating conditions for North-US talks to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and improving inter-Korea ties,” Blue House spokesman Yoon Young-chan told reporters.
The 10-member group comprises five top delegates, including top national security adviser Chung Eui-yong and intelligence chief Suh Hoon. It will fly to the North’s capital, Pyongyang, on Monday afternoon before returning on Tuesday, Yoon said.
The delegation will then fly to the US to brief officials in Washington, he added.
The move comes just weeks after the North’s leader Kim Jong-un sent a delegation to the South that included his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong.
During her stay, Kim Yo-jong personally delivered to South Korean President Moon Jae-in an invitation from her brother for a summit meeting in Pyongyang.
EA
