FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Moon Jae-in, Kim Jong-un Celebrate Opening of Their Third Summit

Sept. 18, 2018 (EIRNS)—South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his wife were greeted at the Pyongyang airport by Chairman Kim Jong-un and his wife, embraced, and rode together to the city standing in an open-roof car, waving at thousands of Koreans along the way, many in national dress and waving North Korean and “unification” flags (with a map of a united Korea).

They held a two-hour meeting, which was described as preliminary (no details were reported), and attended a musical performance with K-Pop and orchestral music.

More substantial talks will be held on Sept. 19-20. The theme of the summit is “Peace and a New Future.” They intend to find a means to move the reconciliation process forward, with both leaders wanting to see the U.S. agree to a more phased process, rather than the idea that there would be no peace treaty and no lifting or loosening of sanctions until denuclearization is complete.

Seventeen leading business sent high-level representatives with President Moon, including CEOs of Samsung and other chaebol. The Hyundai representative told the press that no deals could be signed until sanctions are lifted, but that their presence was a signal that investments would follow progress in the talks.

A forum sponsored by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) was held today in Seoul, promoting the development of the rail connections through North Korea, CSIS President John Hamre said, “Asia is integrating internally, South Korea is isolated from the world geographically—Korea is to be a leader in reconnecting Asia to the world.” South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam said that the “Trans-Korean Railway (TKR) will be connected to the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Trans-Chinese Railway and the Trans-Mongolian Railway.”