Second inter-Korean summit: how it all came about

2차 남북정상회담 성사 배경: 서훈, 김영철 안보라인 통해 김정은이 그제 밤에 제안

One of the most surprising developments in recent days, was President Moon's secret trip to meet with Kim Jong-un and hold only the 4th ever summit between the two Korea's. But how did it come about?
An official at South Korea's presidential office says it was North Korea who reached out first.
Hwang Ho-jun has this report.

"Chairman Kim reached out to me in the afternoon two days ago, saying that he would like to meet without any formalities. I accepted that offer with pleasure."

And a high-ranking official at the Blue House described in a bit more detail how that meeting was set up.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said Seoul's intelligence chief Suh Hoon and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong-chol have been in close communication since the April 27th summit.
Last Friday, Suh and Kim were discussing how to prepare for the North Korea-U.S. summit, and how to improve inter-Korean relations as part of the follow-up measures to the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration.
During that process, the North Korean official relayed Kim Jong-un's desire for the leaders of the two Koreas to hold an informal and candid meeting.
Suh passed on Kim's message to President Moon,
who approved the proposal.
So, from Friday night to Saturday morning,
working-level talks took place to iron out the details of the impromptu summit between President Moon and Kim Jong-un.
And on Saturday afternoon, the two leaders met again at the border village of Panmunjom,...
this time at Tongil-gak, a building on the North Korean side.
But of course, the surprise summit was also happening as Pyongyang and Washington wrangle over the conditions for their own summit.
It was last Tuesday when President Moon and President Trump met in Washington,... where the Blue House official said the two leaders agreed to do their utmost so the North Korea-U.S. summit scheduled for June 12th will be held without any disruption.
But, just two days later, President Trump suddenly called off the June summit in a letter to Kim Jong-un,... citing hostile comments from North Korean officials as well as concern about the country's commitment to giving up its nuclear weapons.
The Blue House lamented the cancellation and urged the leaders to resolve their problems through direct and close dialogue.
North Korea responded to Trump's letter as well, in a surprising way, calling it "unexpected" and "extremely regrettable," and saying Pyongyang was willing "to sit face to face at any time."
And just about 14 hours later, President Trump tweeted that he remains open to holding a summit on June 12th, as the two sides are having, quote, "very productive talks."

So with the summit in Singapore possibly back on, President Moon pledged to call or meet with his North Korean counterpart whenever necessary.
He praised Kim Jong-un for taking the initiative to talk, and, comparing the latest meeting to one between friends, h