Seoul: Kim Jong-un is ready to give up nuclear power

Summit with Moon scheduled for April, after a first telephone call. It would be the first time in 10 years. South Korean Foreign Minister: bring Washington and Pyongyang together. The White House promises new sanctions over the murder of Kim Jong-nam.

Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Kim Jong-un is ready to give up nuclear power, as long as the security of North Korea is guaranteed and threats disappear. The u-turn of the North Korean leader, was announced yesterday by Seoul along with a historic summit in April between the leaders of the two Koreas at the village of Panmunjom, in the nuclear-free area in the 38th parallel that divides the peninsula.

If confirmed, the meeting would be the third in the history of inter-Korean relations, after the precedents in 2000 and 2007, and the first since Kim Jong-un took the leadership of the country. The summit will be anticipated by a telephone conversation between the North Korean leader and South Korean president Moon Jae-in.

The dialogue between the two Koreas was relaunched in the context of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, when the North agreed to send its athletes. This commitment continues today, with the arrival in South Korea of ​​the athletes competing for the Paralympics.

Moon has also assured the leaders of the five major parties to talks that it will not reduce the sanctions imposed on North Korea. "Our aim is denuclearization," said the South Korean president, envisaging a non-immediate timetable for dismantling. " We cannot settle for nonproliferation or a nuclear freeze".

The future of the talks between the socialist regime and the United States is still uncertain. According to Kang Kyung-wha, South Korean Foreign Minister, the two countries are ready for dialogue and "therefore the mission is now to understand how to bring the two parties together". However, despite Trump's defining developments as "positive progress" on twitter, the White House renews its charges against Pyongyang over the death of Kim Jong-un's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, and promises new sanctions.