South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited Mount Baekdu in North Korea with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday morning, wrapping up the three-day summit on a lofty note.

Moon, an avid hiker, has long expressed his wishes, both publicly and privately, to visit Mount Baekdu not through China but through the Korean side. He finally fulfilled that dream, becoming the first leader in the South to make a trip to the sacred mountain from North Korea when still in office.

Mount Baekdu, meaning white head, sits on the North’s border with China and is the tallest peak on the Korean Peninsula, standing at 2,744 meters (9,003 feet). The active volcano mountain is of great historical significance for both Koreas as it is considered the birthplace of both the founder of ancient Korea’s first kingdom and Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il.

The heavily-guarded mountain summit is not the only place Moon has left an unprecedented footprint. Through a “Peace Declaration” he signed with Kim, he drew a written pledge from North Korea to end all military confrontations including nuclear threats and work towards lasting peace between the two Koreas, which are technically at war since the 1953 armistice.

Kim vowed to permanently dismantle nuclear and missile sites and invite experts for verification. Depending on corresponding actions from the United States, he offered to plug off the nuclear material facility as well.

Kim agreed to visit Seoul possibly by the end of the year, which would make him the first-ever North Korean leader to do so.

Moon was the third South Korean president to visit North Korea after former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who visited the North for inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007.

After returning home, Moon will prepare for his trip to New York next week to attend a U.N. general assembly meeting, where he would meet President Donald Trump to brief him on the details of the latest summit.

He is expected to broker another summit between Trump and Kim as the hawkish mood in Washington has dramatically eased after Kim’s overtures on denuclearization.

Trump praised the “tremendous progress” and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo invited North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho for talks in New York next week, during the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. North Korean representatives were also invited to meet with the U.S. envoy for North Korean policy, Stephen Biegun, in Vienna "at the earliest opportunity."

"This will mark the beginning of negotiations to transform U.S.-DPRK relations through the process of rapid denuclearization of North Korea, to be completed by January 2021, as committed by Chairman Kim, and to construct a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula," Pompeo said in a statement, using the initials of the country`s official name, the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea.

By Kang Gye-man and Kim Hyo-jin

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