The leaders of two Koreas will hold their third summit meeting in September in Pyongyang, stoking concerns that they may be rushing towards ending the armistice before the North takes decisive move towards denuclearization.

Senior officials - Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and his North Korean counterpart Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification, agreed on Monday in talks held at the border village of Panmunjom to uphold the April inter-Korean summit agreement to meet again in Pyongyang in the fall.

Moon will be the third president from the South to visit Pyongyang as two former liberal presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun held summit talks with Kim’s father Kim Jong-il in June 2000 and October 2007, respectively.

Markets were uplifted even as jitters over Turkish crisis linger. The main Kospi finished Tuesday up 0.47 percent at 2,258.91 and the dollar fell 6.00 won to 1,127.90 won.

The two sides, however, did not confirm a specific date for the meeting. It is expected to be held around mid-September after the Day of the Foundation of the Republic, a national holiday commemorating the founding of North Korea, which falls on September 9, or before the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 18.

The upcoming meeting was determined at a time when the talks over the denuclearization process in the North have been stalled despite the two inter-Korean summits and the summit meeting between North Korean leader Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in June in Singapore.

In response to the announcement of the plan for the third inter-Korean summit, the U.S. State department said that Seoul and Washington are “in close contact” over their joint response to North Korea but stressed that the improvement of inter-Korean relations cannot advance separately from resolving the issue of Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

Pyongyang reportedly refuses to comply with Washington’s demands for specific timetable and list of weapons and facilities and instead presses for a formal declaration of the end of the Korean War which had stopped through an armistice to ensure regime security.

The nullification of armistice could lead to pullout of UN command and U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula, a matter that seriously unnerves South Korean people.

At the high-ranking meeting on Monday, the two Koreas also agreed to expedite the opening of a liaison office at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint industrial complex that was shut down following the North’s military provocations, to take a step further to implement the Panmumjon Declaration signed by the leaders of two Koreas after a historic summit on April 27. During the meeting, they agreed to work towards a permanent peace and complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

They also reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation in reconnecting railways and roads. The South Korean presidential office said the presidential committee on the implementation of the Panmumjon Declaration would lead the efforts to prepare for the third summit talks.

By Kang Gye-man and Choi Mira

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