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The South Korean special delegation to Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a message to a visiting South Korean special envoy delegation expressing his “will to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat,” the North Korean press reported.

On Sept. 6, the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published a report on the meeting between Kim and the delegation at the headquarters of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee that took place on the previous day. According to the report, Kim told the delegation during their meeting that it was “our [North Korea’s] fixed stand and his will to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat.”

Kim went on to express his commitment to denuclearization, adding that “the north and the south should further their efforts to realize the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” the report said. The delegation and Kim were further reported as having exchanged their views and come to a “satisfactory agreement” on the schedule and agenda for an upcoming inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang during September.

Reporting that Kim was “glad to meet” and “warmly welcomed” the South Korean delegation headed by Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong, the KCNA noted that WPK Central Committee vice chairman Kim Yong-chol was also present at the delegation’s meeting with Kim that day. The agency additionally reported that Chung met with Kim the same day to deliver a letter from South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

After reading the letter, Kim “expressed his thanks to the President [Moon] for sending the good personal letter which expressed a firm will to wisely overcome many challenges in the future, too, and open a bright future of our nation while appreciating the fresh advance in the relations between the north and the south,” the report said.

“The Supreme Leader [Kim] said he fully supports and sympathizes with the President's determination and that he remains unchanged in his determination to strive hard to bring the fellow countrymen better results at an early date, bearing in mind the mission before the nation and its expectation,” it continued.

“[Kim], availing himself of the opportunity, asked the special envoy to convey his warm greetings to the President,” the report said.

The KCNA report further described Kim as lauding Moon’s “strenuous efforts and deep thought” in helping to bringing about the two inter-Korean summits this year. In connection with the Panmunjom Declaration agreed upon by the two leaders at their Apr. 27 summit, Kim was quoted as saying he was “pleased over the fact that technical contacts in various fields were made between the north and the south, the reunions of separated families and relatives were realized and north-south military talks and the work of setting up a joint liaison office progressed well after the historic Panmunjom meeting.”

Kim additionally stressed the needed to “value all these successes which the north and the south made hand in hand and keep advancing without deviation the north-south ties that have definitely entered the new orbit of peace, the orbit of reconciliation and cooperation,” the KCNA piece said.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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