North Korea's Kim Jong Un agreed to make a historic visit to Seoul soon and close a missile testing site in front of international inspectors at a summit with the South's President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang Wednesday.
Progress on the key issue of the North's nuclear arsenal was limited, but the two signed a document to strengthen ties between the two halves of the divided peninsula.
Building on a growing rapprochement, they agreed to create a facility to hold family reunions at any time, work towards joining up road and rail links, and mount a combined bid for the 2032 Olympics.
The agreement "carries the people's fresh hope and the people's strong, flaming desire for reunification", Kim said.
His trip to Seoul would be the first by a Northern leader since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, when hostilities ceased with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving them technically in a state of war.
Moon added that the visit could happen this year and would be a "monumental milestone in inter-Korean relations".
In their agreement, the North also agreed to "permanently close" a missile engine testing site and launch facility in Tongchang-ri "in the presence of experts from relevant nations".
Moon, who brokered Kim's historic summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, had hoped to bring fresh momentum to stalled talks between his hosts and Washington.
Whether that would happen remained unclear.
In Singapore Kim declared his backing for denuclearisation of the peninsula but no details were agreed. Washington and Pyongyang have since sparred over what that means and how it will be achieved.
Trump welcomed Wednesday's declaration, tweeting that Kim had "agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations" and adding: "Very exciting!"
But experts were sceptical.
- 'Short of expectations' -
The North -- whose ballistic missile programme is banned under UN Security Council resolutions -- has carried out several long-range rocket launches from the site, also known as Sohae, but has also used many other locations including Pyongyang airport.
Satellite pictures in August suggested workers were already dismantling an engine test stand at Sohae.
"Kim is playing this brilliantly: verify that I dismantle a single site that I no longer need anyway while I mass-produce the missiles the site helped me develop," said Vipin Narang of MIT.
Moon also said the North could close its Yongbyon nuclear plant if Washington takes "corresponding measures" -- a significant caveat.
Arms control expert Jeffrey Lewis said the consensus view was that the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon "was built for (the) express purpose of being sacrificed".
After the high symbolism of Moon and Kim's first meeting in April in the Demilitarized Zone, and the Singapore summit, progress has largely stalled.
Washington is pressing for the North's "final, fully verified denuclearisation", while Pyongyang wants a formal declaration that the Korean War is over and has condemned "gangster-like" demands for it to give up its weapons unilaterally.
Ahead of the Pyongyang summit there had been speculation Moon could secure a promise from Kim of a list of the North's nuclear assets, but no such document was mentioned.
"On the denuclearisation issue, the agreement fell short of expectations," Korea University political science professor Yoo Ho-yeol told AFP.
Wednesday's declaration came 13 years to the day after the North committed at the Six Party Talks to "abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes".
- Mass applause -
But the two Koreas have been pressing ahead with their own rapprochement, with Kim looking to secure economic cooperation from the far wealthier South, and Moon trying to reduce the risk of a US-North Korean conflict that would devastate his country.
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the North's ruling party, has carried dozens of photos of the two leaders embracing on Moon's arrival Tuesday, parading together through the streets of the capital, enjoying a concert and toasting at a banquet.
On Wednesday evening Moon's party will dine at a new fish restaurant in Pyongyang opposite Mansu hill, where giant statues of Kim's predecessors -- his grandfather Kim Il Sung and father Kim Jong Il -- look out over the city.
It was chosen after Moon expressed interest in dining at a local restaurant with ordinary citizens. However, a retail shop there sells North Korean caviar at $50 for a 50-gramme jar -- a luxury far beyond the reach of most North Koreans.
Afterwards, Moon will attend a performance of the "Mass Games" -- North Korea's spectacular propaganda display featuring tens of thousands of performers against an ever-changing backdrop, made up of 17,490 children turning the coloured pages of books in sequence.
The premiere of the latest version of the show, called "The Glorious Country", earlier this month featured video footage of Moon and Kim together at their first summit in Panmunjom -- prompting the unusual sight of tens of thousands of North Koreans applauding images of the South's president.
Before returning home on Thursday, Seoul said, Moon will travel to Mount Paektu, the spiritual birthplace of the Korean nation on the Chinese-North Korean border.
Six key points from the Pyongyang summit
Seoul (AFP) Sept 19, 2018 - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South's President Moon Jae-in agreed a series of proposals Wednesday as they sought to deepen the ties between the two halves of the divided peninsula.
Following are the key points of the documents signed in Pyongyang after talks over two days.
- Seoul brothers -
The two leaders have met three times in the last six months and their declaration said: "Chairman Kim Jong Un will visit Seoul in the near future."
Moon told reporters that barring unforeseen circumstances the trip was expected this year.
It would be the first visit to the South by a North Korean leader since the end of the Korean War, aside from Kim's attendance at previous summits in the truce village of Panmunjom in the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).
Between inheriting power from his father in 2012 and this year Kim rarely left his isolated country.
- 'Permanent' closure -
Moon had come to Pyongyang hoping for a gesture that would help rekindle stalled denuclearisation talks between the United States and the North.
In the declaration, the North agreed to permanently close its Tongchang-ri engine test site and missile launch pad -- also known as Sohae -- under the eyes of foreign inspectors.
"The North expressed a willingness to take further steps including the permanent dismantlement of the Yongbyon nuclear facility if the US takes reciprocal steps," the joint statement said, referring to the North's best-known atomic research site.
Analysts dismissed the Sohae promise, saying the facility was outdated and no longer needed, but US President Donald Trump tweeted that the pledge was "Very exciting!"
It came 13 years to the day after the North committed at the Six Party Talks to "abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes and returning, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons".
It has since carried out six nuclear tests and launched missiles capable of reaching anywhere on the mainland United States.
- Lower the temperature -
The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two sides still technically at war and divided by the DMZ.
Their defence ministries signed a pact intended to lower temperatures requiring both sides to remove 11 guard posts by the end of the year and halt military drills on the border from November 1.
They also agreed to set up a buffer zone in the flashpoint West Sea, suspend gun firing and maritime drills, and implement a no-fly zone in the border area to prevent accidental clashes.
- Mending fences -
The dovish Moon favours engagement with the North, and the two have pursued several joint projects since April's landmark summit.
In Pyongyang, the two leaders agreed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony this year for a project to connect cross-border railways and roads, and to "normalise" a joint factory zone in the North's border city of Kaesong.
That could be complicated by multiple sets of international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile activities.
The South's previous conservative government shut the Kaesong Industrial Complex in 2016 after North Korea carried out a nuclear test and a missile launch.
On Wednesday the two sides also agreed to allow Southern tours to the North's scenic Mount Kumgang -- which ended after a Northern soldier shot dead a tourist who strayed off into a forbidden area -- to resume "under the right conditions".
Some critics have said joint projects serve only to fund Pyongyang's banned weapons programmes.
- Olympic bid -
This year's Winter Olympics in the South helped trigger the ongoing rapprochement on the peninsula and the two Koreas agreed to go even further with a bid to jointly host the 2032 Games.
"The South and North agreed to actively participate jointly in international competitions including the 2020 Summer Olympics and to cooperate in bidding for the South-North joint hosting of the 2032 Summer Olympics," their joint statement said.
Olympics chief Thomas Bach said this month he was open to talks with the two Koreas about marching and competing together at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Pyongyang boycotted the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics.
- Family reunions -
Hundreds of thousands of families were separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and resulting division of the peninsula. The rare reunions between relatives have been an emotional reminder of the human consequences of the conflict.
Direct civilian exchanges are banned between the two Koreas and the North has frequently used family reunions as a political bargaining chip with the South.
But the two leaders agreed Wednesday to open a facility at Mount Kumgang to host family reunions at any time, and to hold Red Cross talks on allowing exchanges of letters and live video broadcasts between divided relatives.
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Moon landing: S. Korean leader and North's Kim begin summit
Seoul (AFP) Sept 18, 2018
South Korea's president and the North's leader Kim Jong Un drove together through the streets of Pyongyang Tuesday past thousands of cheering citizens before opening a summit where Moon Jae-in will seek to reboot stalled denuclearisation talks between his hosts and the United States. Kim and Moon embraced at Pyongyang's international airport - where the North Korean leader had supervised missile launches last year as tensions mounted. The North's unique brand of choreographed mass adulation was ... read more
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