In a four-hour “openhearted talk” over dinner in Pyongyang on Monday, Kim “made an exchange of in-depth views on the issues for easing the acute military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and activating the versatile dialog, contact, cooperation and exchange.
This is the first time South Korean officials have met with the young North Korean leader in person since he took power in 2011.
The visit by the 10-member delegation, which is being led by the South Korean president’s national security director, Chung Eui-yong, is also the first high-level visit by South Korean officials to the North in about a decade.
Chung’s delegation includes intelligence chief Suh Hoon and Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung.
Chung’s delegation will return to South Korea and then fly to the United States to brief American officials about the two-day trip to North Korea.
The US has long included itself in the Korean dispute. It has heavy military presence in the region and uses North Korea’s weapons programs as a pretext to constantly threaten Pyongyang with military action.
That military posture has concerned North Korea, which says it needs to advance its weapons program to protect itself against potential US military action.
The US has also imposed sanctions on Pyongyang, including most recently what it called “the toughest ever.”
Recently, US President Donald Trump said that Washington would be willing to enter into talks with Pyongyang "under the right conditions."
Washington has told the impoverished country that for negotiations to begin it must denuclearize its arsenal.
But the North-South rapprochement has sidelined the US, and there has been no indication that Pyongyang may be willing to negotiate with Washington now.
