SEOUL: The rival Koreas announced on Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet in Pyongyang sometime in September, while their envoys also discussed Pyongyang’s nuclear disarmament efforts and international sanctions.

The push for what would be the leaders’ third summit since April comes amid renewed worries surrounding a nuclear standoff bet­w­een Washington and Pyongyang.

The announcement relea­sed after nearly two hours of talks led by the rivals’ chiefs for inter-Korean affairs was remarkably thin on details. In a three-sentence joint statement, the two sides did not mention an exact date for the summit and provided no details on how to implement past agreements.

Ri Son Gwon, the head of the North Korean delegati­on, told pool reporters at the end of the talks that officials agreed on a specific date for the summit sometime within September, but he refused to share the date, saying he wanted to “keep reporters wondering.”

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2018