April 27, 2018: The Date When The North And South (Korea) Shall Meet

Officials from South and North Korea have agreed on April 27 as the date for high-level talks after meeting in Panmunjom. The two countries will hold the first inter-Korean summit since 2007 on April 27, South Korean government officials announced after holding high-level talks with their North Korean counterparts.

The announcement by the South Korea government on Thursday followed a round of preparatory talks in the border village of Panmunjom inside the de-militarised zone. The summit - only the third to take place since the 1950-1953 Korean War - is scheduled to be attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The landmark meeting between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un will be held at Freedom House on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), according to the joint statement issued after the talks. Officials from both sides will hold another round of working-level talks on April 4 to prepare for the meeting and agree on security and media arrangements, it added.

The summit will be seen as a victory for South Korea President Moon Jae-in, who has long been pushing hard for diplomatic relations with North Korea. He had stated at his swearing-in ceremony in 2017 "for peace on the Korean Peninsula, I will do everything that I can do."

The confirmation of summit-level talks has come after weeks of a flurry of diplomatic activity, post a surprise thaw in relations on the Korean peninsula earlier this year. In January, the North Korean government resumed communications with South Korea and agreed to renegotiate, sending a team to South Korea's Winter Olympics. This was followed by a South Korean delegation traveling to Pyongyang to meet with Kim Jong-un. These talks have also opened up the possibility of talks between U.S. and North Korea as Kim Jong-un wrote a letter to President Donald Trump inviting him to a round of talks.

North Korea’s diplomatic engagement comes in sharp contrast to 2017 when the peninsula appeared to be barreling toward imminent conflict, with Kim overseeing a string of missile and nuclear tests and Trump promising "fire and fury" as Pyongyang threatened Guam, Hawaii and even the US mainland.

The U.S. government has been cautious in its outreach to North Korea, saying that engagement will only happen if certain conditions are met such as a halt on nuclear and missile tests and de-nuclearization on the agenda. But, as the saying goes the devil is in the details and hence only time will tell if DPRK’s re-engagement with the world results in concrete actions.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 30, 2018 11:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).