The September 2018 inter-Korean summit was a meeting between South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held between 18 and 20 September 2018, in Pyongyang. It was the third and final inter-Korean summit in the 2018–19 Korean peace process.
On 13 August, the Blue House announced that President Moon Jae-in plans to attend the third inter-Korean summit with Kim Jong Un at Pyongyang in September as expected. The agenda was finding the strategy of the breakthrough in its hampered talks with the United States and solution for the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. This was the first visit by a South Korean president to Pyongyang in 11 years. On 19 September, the two countries signed the Pyongyang Joint Declaration and the Military Agreement aimed at fulfilling the Panmunjom Declaration, agreeing to end military hostilities, expand economic and cultural cooperation, achieve denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and prohibit military training along the military demarcation line.
Name
On 7 September 2018, the Blue House announced that the official name of the summit was “2018 North-South Korean Summit in Pyongyang” (Korean: 2018 남북정상회담, 평양), and the slogan was “Peace, New Future” (Korean: 새로운미래). Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom explained that the slogan “expresses the national aspiration of North and South Korea to join hands in opening up the future during this important period when the Korean Peninsula is facing a historic turning point”. In addition, the slogan was printed on press releases and various brochures.
Background
Previous talks
During the April 2018 inter-Korean summit, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed the Panmunjom Declaration, agreeing that Moon would visit Pyongyang in the autumn 2018. Subsequently, relations between the two Koreas became friendly, and the leaders of the two countries met again in May. Then, they held general-level talks, sports talks and Red Cross talks. The Inter-Korean Liaison Office located in Kaesong, a border city in North Korea, was opened on 14 September. At the same time, the annual defense white paper published by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense removed the phrase "the North Korean regime and army are our enemies". The two countries also frequently conducted sports exchanges. The South Korean men's and women's basketball teams visited Pyongyang in July to participate in a friendly match, North Korea sent the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea to participate in the North-South Workers' Football Match, and the two countries formed a joint team to participate in the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships and the 2018 Asian Games. In August, the two countries held a reunion event for separated families from the North and South again after two years.
However, North Korea and the United States were deadlocked on how to handle the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In June 2018, Kim Jong Un signed a joint statement with U.S. President Donald Trump at the North Korea-U.S. Singapore summit, pledging to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. However, the two countries disagreed on the procedures: the U.S. demanded that North Korea take new denuclearization measures first, while Pyongyang demanded that the U.S. issue a declaration to end the war guaranteeing its regime. To this end, North Korea advocated for another summit meeting between the two countries at the high-level inter-Korean talks on 13 August, which the Blue House agreed to. Thus, the two sides agreed to hold a summit meeting in September of the same year, but the specific date was not set. Subsequently, North Korea and the United States continued to be deadlocked on the issue of denuclearization. On 24 August, Trump instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel his planned visit to North Korea because the "progress of North Korean denuclearization was too slow." In response, Kim Yong-chol, director of the United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, told the United States on 29 August that if there was no further progress in the nuclear negotiations between the two sides, North Korea might “restart nuclear weapons and missiles”. In order to resolve the dispute between the two countries, Moon Jae-in sent a special delegation to Pyongyang on 5 September to discuss the date of the summit and denuclearization. On 5 September 2018, South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong, National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon and other delegates travelled to North Korea to hold a meeting with Kim Jong Un, where they arranged the summit and help rescue faltering nuclear diplomacy between the United States and North Korea. The two sides decided to hold a summit from 18 to 20 September, with the topics being the establishment of a mutual trust mechanism, prevention of armed conflict and specific methods for promoting denuclearization. South Korean officials have insisted that Kim Jong Un has set a proposed denuclearization timetable and is working with Trump to achieve this goal.
Preparation
The summit was held on the eve of North Korea's Day of the Foundation of the Republic. To create a friendly atmosphere, North Korea did not display intercontinental ballistic missiles or ballistic missiles during the military parade on the founding day. On the same evening, a segment commemorating the inter-Korean summit in April of the same year was added to the performance of "The Glorious Motherland". In South Korea, considering that North Korea had just completed its founding day celebrations, in order to reduce the burden on Pyongyang, the Blue House sent only a delegation of 200 people to this summit, the smallest delegation to date.
On 14 September, officials from both countries held a preparatory meeting at Panmunjom to discuss details such as the format of Moon Jae-in's visit to Pyongyang, the meeting schedule, and security arrangements. On 16 September, South Korea sent an advance team of 93 people to Pyongyang to make final preparations for the meeting. On the same day, the Blue House announced the list of 14 official accompanying personnel:
- Chung Eui-yong, Director of the Office of National Security
- Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Cho Myoung-gyon, Minister of Unification
- Song Young-moo, Minister of National Defense
- Suh Hoon, Director of the National Intelligence Service
- Do Jong-hwan, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism
- Kim Hyun-mee, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
- Kim Young-choon, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries
- Kim Jae-hyun, Director of the Korea Forest Service
- Kim Hyun-cheol, Economic Advisor to the Presidential Policy Office
- Kwun Hyuk-ki, Director of the Presidential Security Service
- Kim Eui-kyeom, Blue House spokesperson
- Kim Jong-cheon, Protocol Secretary of the Presidential Secretariat
- Yoon Geon-young, Director of the National Situation Office of the Presidential Secretariat
In addition, South Korea also sent 52 special entourage members from various sectors including politics, economy, society, culture, and civil society.
The summit
18 September (Day 1)
The summit began as scheduled on 18 September and lasted three days. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said at a staff meeting the day before his departure that he would “frankly face off” with Kim Jong Un and communicate on denuclearization and the elimination of hostile relations, and stressed that the establishment of a permanent peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula was not subject to international influence. At 8:40 a.m. the next day, Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jong-suk led a delegation of members from Seoul Air Base and flew over the Yellow Sea to Pyongyang by special plane. This route was the same as that taken by Kim Dae-jung when he visited North Korea in 2000. At 9:50 a.m., the special plane arrived at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, where Moon Jae-in and his wife were they got a rousing reception, which featured a marchpast by the guard of honor and the Central Military Band of the Korean People's Army. They were greeted by Kim Jong Un, who embraced Moon, and his wife Ri Sol-ju. Then, Moon Jae-in inspected the guard of honor of the Korean People's Army, and the commander shouted “Here is the ceremony to welcome His Excellency the President” and fired a 21-gun salute. In the previous summits, the gun salute ceremony was omitted due to the special relationship between the two countries. At the same time, it was unprecedented for Moon Jae-in to be addressed as “Your Excellency the President” by North Korea. Shortly afterward, Moon Jae-in shook hands with North Korean senior officials, including Kim Yong-nam, President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and Choe Ryong-hae, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, while Kim Jong Un spoke with members of the South Korean official delegation.
At 10:20 a.m., Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in left the airport together in an open-top car and toured the city center, passing the Three Revolutions Exhibition, the Immortality Tower, Ryomyong Avenue and the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun. Along the way, the two waved to the people holding the Korean Reunification Flag and the flag of North Korea. An hour later, Moon Jae-in arrived at the Paekhwawon State Guest House where he was staying to rest and have lunch. At 3:45 p.m., the two leaders, together with Suh Hoon, director of the South Korean National Intelligence Service, Chung Eui-yong, director of the Office of National Security of the Blue House, Kim Yo Jong, first vice minister of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, held talks at the headquarters building of the Workers' Party of Korea. In his opening remarks, Kim Jong Un thanked Moon Jae-in for achieving the "historic" summit between the leaders of North Korea and the United States, and pointed out that the situation on the Korean Peninsula has gradually stabilized after the summit between the leaders of North Korea and the United States. He believed that the dialogue between North Korea and the United States could bring more fruitful results. Moon Jae-in expressed his gratitude to Kim Jong Un for “decisively deciding to usher in a new era”. On the other hand, the two first ladies, Kim Jong-suk and Ri Sol-ju, visited the Okryu Children’s Hospital and the Pyongyang University of Music and Dance. The South Korean special delegation met with Kim Yong-nam, President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and representatives of the business and public sector met with Ri Yong-nam, Vice Premier of North Korea. Representatives of political parties met with An Dong-chun, Vice Chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and representatives of society met with Kim Yong-dae, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Korean Social Democratic Party, at the People’s Palace of Culture.
At 6:30 p.m., the two leaders and their spouses appeared at the Pyongyang Grand Theater to watch the performance of the Samjiyon Orchestra. Two hours later, North Korea held a welcome banquet for South Korea at the Mokran Hall. In his welcoming speech, Kim Jong Un said that in order to fulfill the Panmunjom Declaration, he would "strive to achieve a new era of peace and a prosperous history for the nation", and emphasized that "there are still many difficulties on the road ahead", but as long as the two countries work together, they will be able to "move forward with greater strength". Moon Jae-in then spoke, expressing his deep gratitude to the North Korean compatriots who gave him a warm welcome on the streets this morning, and conveying the greetings of the South Korean compatriots. He also pointed out that the two countries would seriously discuss the issues of denuclearization and the complete elimination of military tensions between the two sides in this meeting; the fact that the two leaders met at any time and place proved that a new era of inter-Korean relations had arrived.