N. Korean leader unlikely to visit Seoul this year: Yonhap

By Lim Chang-won Posted : December 12, 2018, 16:06 Updated : December 12, 2018, 16:06

A file picture shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a joint press conference in Pyongyang in September. [Joint Press Corps]


SEOUL -- The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae thinks it would be difficult for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to visit Seoul this year, a presidential official said Wednesday.

There was speculation that the North's leader might make his first trip to Seoul before the end of this year, with Cheong Wa Dae saying that it plans to prepare for a potential visit, though nothing has been decided. "We judge that it would be difficult for Chairman Kim to visit Seoul this year," a presidential official said.

In the Pyongyang inter-Korean summit agreement in September, Kim agreed to visit Seoul "at an early date," which President Moon Jae-in said means by the end of this year. North Korea is known to be cautious about clarifying the timing of Kim's visit, apparently out of concerns over security and amid its stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.

For the North, its December schedule is tight as December 17 is the national anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong-il, the father of the incumbent leader. It also spends the month reviewing its yearly accomplishments and preparing for Kim's New Year's speech.
(Yonhap)
기사 이미지 확대 보기
닫기