Leaders of two Koreas make ‘new history’ at historic summit on peace talks

The leaders of North and South Korea hailed the start of a “new history” as they attended a historic summit designed to end decades of conflict and political impasse.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met at the heavily fortified demilitarised zone between the countries that has come to signal the political divide that has separated the two nations.

Moon greeted Kim at the military demarcation line, making Kim the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.

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At the summit, the first held between the two sides in decades, the men said they would “talk frankly” about the issues that dividing them, which overwhelmingly centres of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

Just last year, North Korea provoked widespread national alarm with its barrage of missile tests and threats that a nuclear button was “always on my desk”.

However, last week, Kim said he had halted all tests and would shut down the country’s nuclear site.

The announcement was widely praised, including from Donald Trump, who is due to meet the North Korean leader later in June.