Since Liu Yunshan, the Chinese Communist Party’s fifth-ranked official, visited Pyongyang in October and held talks with North Korean leader Kim, there have been signs of improvement in bilateral ties.
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The last such sit-down, with the mandate to discuss a range of inter-Korean issues, took place almost two years ago.
There is no fixed agenda for this meeting although South Korea is expected to talk about setting up more reunions for families separated between the two Koreas.
South Korean Deputy Unification Minister Hwang Boo-gi is expected to meet Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea Deputy Executive Secretary Jeon Jeong Soo in the Kaesong border town.
“The North’s denuclearization needs to be seen as the ultimate goal of inter-Korea dialogue, not a pre-condition of it”, said Kim Keun-Shik, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. Hwang Boogi, second from left, South Korea’s vice minister of unification and the head negotiator for high-level talks with North Korea, talks as his North Korean counterpart Jon Jong Su, second from right, listens during th…
It said the Moranbong Band has played an ideological and cultural role in North Korea, “arousing all the service personnel and people”.
In a paper published in May, Lee Chun-keun, a senior researcher at the Science and Technology Policy Institute of South Korea, said North Korea acquired laser nuclear fusion equipment from China in the 1980s and that it might be developing a reinforced nuclear weapon from nuclear fusion.
“There are many issues to be discussed between the two Koreas”.
Expectations for Friday’s meeting were lowered last month when both sides in preparatory negotiations settled for a meeting at the vice-ministerial level, which likely ruled out discussions on more important issues between the rivals.
This is the question that many nations want a clear answer, but given that the claim North Korea has a hydrogen bomb came from Kim Jong Un further muddles confirmation. The tour, launched in 1998, was suspended in July 2008 when a South Korean female tourist was shot dead by a DPRK solider after allegedly venturing into an off-limit area. Restarting the tours would be a useful propaganda victory for Kim Jong-Un, as well as providing a source of much-needed hard revenue.
An official at South Korea’s intelligence agency told Yonhap news agency there was no evidence that the North had hydrogen bomb capacity, and believed Kim was speaking rhetorically.
The issues included the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and landmines explosion and a rare exchange of artillery fire in August.
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The United States, which hosted the gathering, also reiterated its demand for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapon plans.
