The South Korean President, Moon Jae-in has been invited to travel to North Korea, following a formal invitation from the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, potentially setting up the first meeting of Korean leaders since 2007. CNN quoted presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom as saying the invite was presented to South Korean President by Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, during a historic meeting between North and South Korean officials at Seoul's presidential palace on Saturday.
Saturday's meeting according to the report was the most significant diplomatic encounter between the two sides in more than a decade and could now be surpassed should Moon accept Kim's invitation to visit Pyongyang later this year.
Moon responded to the invitation by suggesting the two countries "should accomplish this by creating the right conditions," adding that talks between North Korea and the United States were also needed, and requested that North Korea be more active in talking with the US.
Images from the lunch meeting at the Blue House, which was broadcast live on South Korean TV, showed Moon sat in front of Kim Yo Jong, rather than Kim Yong Nam, technically the more senior official present in the meeting and head of the North Korean delegation.
Before the commencement of the summer Olympics, Moon had expressed his intention to use the Winter Olympics as a chance to make diplomatic inroads with the North and restore normalized communications, following months of high tensions on the Peninsula.
Speaking last year at his swearing-in ceremony, Moon said he would be willing to travel to Pyongyang "under the right conditions," adding that "for peace on the Korean Peninsula, I will do everything that I can do."
Other members of the North Korean delegation present at Saturday's meeting included Ri Son Gwon, who led the first sit-down talks at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) earlier this year, and Choe Hwi. South Korean participants included senior officials Jeong Eui-yong, Jo Myong-gyoon and Im Jong-suk, the chief presidential secretary.
