S. Korea to mark summit anniversary, Pyongyang may not take part – Seoul

South Korea will this week celebrate the first anniversary of a landmark summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Seoul said on Monday. The two leaders held their first meeting on April 27 last year in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) dividing the peninsula, paving the way for a summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore last June. One year later, little progress has been made on North Korea’s denuclearization, with Pyongyang and Washington deadlocked since a second summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi in February broke down without a deal. Since Hanoi, the North has not attended any of the eight regular weekly meetings of the heads of their joint liaison office in Kaesong, and has not taken part in other joint projects, such as excavations in the DMZ. Seoul will hold a ceremony on Saturday at Panmunjom – where Moon and Kim exchanged smiles and hugs. However, Pyongyang’s attendance remains unclear. Kim slammed the South in a speech to his country’s legislature earlier this month, saying it should not “pose as a meddlesome ‘mediator’” between the US and the North, AFP said.