International

North, South Korea agree to summit in September

The leaders of North and South Korea will hold their third summit in September, officials from the two countries announced Monday.

The meeting in Pyongyang comes as questions have been raised about North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s commitment to denuclearization following his summit in June with President Trump.

Kim and South Korea President Moon Jae-in have already met twice his year, with the second meeting setting up the Trump-Kim summit.

{mosads}A precise date for the third meeting has not been announced, and there appeared to be disagreements over when it would take place between the two sides, according to multiple reports.

Ri Son Gwon, the head of the North Korean delegation, told reporters that officials agreed on a particular date, but wouldn’t say when because he wanted to “keep reporters wondering,” The Associated Press reported.

The South Korean unification minister, Cho Myoung-gyon, told the press that they had not settled on an exact date and that the two sides would discuss it further.

It’s not clear if the meeting will take place by Sept. 9, when North Korea marks the anniversary of its founding. Moon’s spokesman, Kim Eui-keum, said it would be logistically difficult to hold the summit before Sept. 10, CNN reported.

North Korea’s denuclearization was discussed by officials setting up the summit on Monday.

Cho said he urged North Korea to speed up its nuclear talks with the U.S., while Ri said that Pyongyang was making efforts to disarm. Cho told reporters that no evidence has come to light that that is true.

“We explained that we need to help North Korea-U.S. talks progress quickly and that there needs to be an establishment of dynamic where the inter-Korean relationship and the North Korea-U.S. relationship improves in cycles,” Cho said, according to CNN.