Kim to visit Seoul, shut missile site

Growing bonhomie
• Both Koreas agreed to begin construction to reconnect railways and roads linking the countries within this year
• They will also work to restart a joint factory park in the North border city of Kaesong and tours to the North’s Mount Kumgang resort
• They also agreed to pursue a bid to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games, and actively work together in other competitions, including 2020 Tokyo Olympics

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un agreed to make a historic visit to Seoul soon and close a missile testing site in front of international inspectors at a summit with the South’s President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang.
His trip to Seoul would be the first by a Northern leader since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, when hostilities ceased with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving them technically in a state of war.
Moon added that the visit could happen this year and would be a “monumental milestone in inter-Korean relations”. In their agreement, the North also agreed to “permanently close” a missile engine testing site and launch facility in Tongchang-ri “in the presence of experts from relevant nations”. Moon, who brokered Kim’s historic summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, had hoped to bring fresh momentum to stalled talks between his hosts and Washington. Whether that would happen remained unclear.
In Singapore Kim declared his backing for denuclearization of the peninsula but no details were agreed. Washington and Pyongyang have since sparred over what that means and how it will be achieved.
Trump welcomed the declaration, tweeting that Kim had “agreed to allow nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations” and adding: “Very exciting!”