PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - The Latest on the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (all times local):
2:15 p.m.
Britain’s top diplomat says it’s time for North Korea to take concrete actions toward eliminating its nuclear weapons.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Tuesday in Tokyo that dialogue has helped improve the atmosphere “but we need to see actions now.”
He spoke as South Korean President Moon Jae-in was visiting Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to revitalize the North’s denuclearization talks with the United States.
Hunt told The Associated Press that Britain is ready to relax economic sanctions on North Korea when there is concrete evidence of a change from the North Korean side.
He is in Japan to hold “strategic dialogue” talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.
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1:20 p.m.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are holding a car parade along Pyongyang streets.
The recorded South Korean media pool footage showed the two leaders aboard a convertible black limousine smiling and waving their hands as residents, many wearing colorful traditional handbook dresses, chanted and waved plastic flowers.
A convoy of sedans and motorcycles were the only other cars on the neatly manicured route.
Moon arrived Tuesday morning for a three-day visit. They’re holding their third summit and will attempt to improve ties and resolve a standoff in nuclear disarmament talks.
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11:30 a.m.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have arrived at a guesthouse in Pyongyang where they are expected to have talks over lunch.
Kim and Moon arrived at the Paekhwawon State Guesthouse in a black Mercedes convertible and were seen talking and adjusting their hair before stepping out of the backseat.
Their wives also reportedly shared a separate vehicle to the guesthouse.
The Paekwawon Guesthouse was also where former South Korean Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun stayed during their summits with Kim’s father in 2000 and 2007.
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10:15 a.m.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has greeted South Korean President Moon Jae-in upon his arrival in Pyongyang for their third summit this year to improve ties and help resolve the nuclear standoff.
Moon and Kim embraced at the Sunan International Airport on Tuesday as thousands of North Koreans cheered and waved flowers, North Korean flags and a blue-and-white map symbolizing a unified peninsula.
Moon and Kim and their wives shook the hands of North Korean and South Korean officials before they were saluted by a North Korean ceremonial guard.
They then inspected goose-stepping soldiers, and Moon shook hands with North Korean civilians and bowed deeply to them.
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9:50 a.m.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has landed in Pyongyang for his third summit of the year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Moon was greeted at the Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang by thousands of North Koreans, lined in neat rows and dressed in black suits and traditional hanboks. They waved bouquets of artificial flowers, the North Korean flag and a white-and-blue flag with a map symbolizing a unified Korean Peninsula. North Korean soldiers and naval troops quick-marched into position to welcome Moon, and Kim Jong Un’s sister was seen walking amid the preparations.
Moon is to meet Kim Jong Un later Tuesday and again on Wednesday during his three-day trip.
The main focus is to see whether Moon can set up talks between Pyongyang and Washington to salvage stalled nuclear diplomacy.
Moon’s previous meetings with Kim were at the border village of Panmunjom.
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9 a.m.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has left for Pyongyang for his third summit of the year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Moon’s plane left a military airport near Seoul for Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Tuesday morning.
Moon is to meet Kim later Tuesday and again on Wednesday during a three-day trip.
The main focus is to see whether Moon can set up talks between Pyongyang and Washington to salvage stalled nuclear diplomacy.
Moon’s trip makes him the third South Korean leader to visit Pyongyang for an inter-Korean summit.
Moon has met Kim twice this year, but each time at the Koreas’ border village of Panmunjom.
A group of about 150 business, sports, entertainment and government leaders streamed onto the plane before Moon’s departure.
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8 a.m.
North Korea says the summit between leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will offer an important opportunity in “further accelerating the development” in relations between the rivals.
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency published the statement on Tuesday hours before the Korean leaders were expected to meet in Pyongyang for their third summit this year amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff.
The summit will likely be a crucial indicator of how the larger nuclear negotiations with the United States will proceed. Talks between Washington and Pyongyang have sputtered in recent weeks, raising doubts about Kim’s supposed willingness to relinquish his nuclear arsenal and putting the pressure on Moon to broker progress once again.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday that he will push for “irreversible, permanent peace” and for better dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington, during “heart-to-heart” talks with Kim.
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