North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held talks with a South Korean delegation on Monday.
South Korea’s presidential office spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said a 10-member South Korean delegation was greeted by North Korean officials after landing in Pyongyang.
The South Korean delegation, led by National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, was later invited to join Kim Jong Un at a dinner.
The South Korean officials are the most senior officials from the South to meet Kim Jong Un since he took power in late 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.
“We will deliver President Moon Jae-in’s wish to bring about denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, ” Chung said in South Korea before the delegation’s departure.
The delegation will also focus on permanent peace by extending the goodwill and better inter-Korean relations created by the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Chung said.
The delegation hopes to speak to North Korean officials on starting dialogue between the North and the United States as well as other countries, the delegation leader said.
According to Reuters, the South Korean officials are visiting North aiming to encourage North Korea and the United States to talk.
Both North Korea and the United States have expressed a willingness to talk, but US President Donald Trump demands the North first gives up its nuclear weapons program.
The North, which has vowed never to give up its nuclear deterrent against what it sees as US hostility, says it will not sit down to talks under preconditions.
