[ISSUE TALK] Third Moon-Kim inter-Korean summit announced, why now?

남북 "9월 안에 평양에서 정상회담" 합의 - 민정훈 교수 대담

So... it has been announced that the third Moon-Kim inter-Korean summit will take place in Pyongyang, some time in September. This was the result of high-level talks between the two Koreas that took place at the border village of Panmunjom earlier today. But the joint statement released afterwards does not say much else. The summit announcement comes as talks between North Korea and U.S. have stalled over their differing stances towards Pyongyang's denuclearization process. The question is, what do the leaders of the two Korea's hope to achieve with this next summit? To try and answer that, we have with us Professor Min Jeong-hun from the Korea National Diplomatic Academy. Thank you for making the time to come in today.

My pleasure.

1 - So the third inter-Korean summit has been announced. It will take place in Pyongyang, in September, although no exact date has yet been set. What is your initial reaction to this announcement?

1a - Why now? What do you think the two leaders will want to get out of the meeting?

2 - The brief announcement also says they discussed how they will continue to carry out the Panmunjom declaration. If you look at the North Korean delegation, you could see they were heavily skewed towards officials who were in charge of inter-Korean cooperation projects. What message do you think Pyongyang was trying to send?

2a - Is the fact that the meeting was so short a good sign or a bad sign?

3 - North Korean state media over the weekend, criticized the South Korean government over the slow progress in carrying out the Panmunjom declaration. They blamed the U.S. sanctions, as well as South Korea for participating in them. What do you make of the fact that this criticism came just days before today's planned high-level talks?

4 - The U.S. and South Korea have made their positions clear on sanctions. Do you think North Korea would have brought up the topic, or do you think it is an issue they would have kept for the summit?

4a - How do you think those discussions will play out?

5 - On September 9th, North Korea will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of its republic. It's expected to be another important day on the North Korean calendar, with rumors of even a military parade. Do you think Pyongyang could invite President Moon or some South Korean officials to attend?

6 - One of the issues that North Korea has also been stressing is a declaration to formally end the Korean War. How far do you think they would have discussed that today?

6a - China has also been putting pressure on the parties to agree to formally end the Korean War. How do you think Beijing's involvement will affect the dynamic between the two Koreas and the U.S.?

7 - It's been reported that North Korea has suspended package group tours from China for the next few weeks, saying that all hotels in Pyongyang are currently being renovated. However, there is speculation that