| October
1. | - The two Koreas begin the
work to remove landmines in the Joint Security Area and the
areas in which war remains will be excavated.
|
| October 4-6. |
- A meeting for national unification is held in Pyeongyang
to mark the 11th anniversary of the October 4
Declaration.
|
| October 7. |
- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyeongyang,
and after having a luncheon with Kim, Pompeo goes to Seoul
and meets with President Moon.
- The outcome of
Secretary of State Pompeo’s visit to North Korea: Holding
the second North Korea-US summit as soon as possible;
discussing the North’s denuclearization measures and the
matter of the US government’s observation* and the US’s
corresponding measures; and forming a working-level
negotiation team to discuss the North Korean
denuclearization process and schedules for the North
Korea-US summit (in a written briefing by the Blue
House).
*“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited
inspectors to visit the Punggye-ri nuclear test site to
confirm that it is irreversibly dismantled” (in a press
release by a spokesperson for the US Department of
State).” |
| October 9. |
- US President Donald Trump mentions
that his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
would be held after the US midterm election on November 6
and that he is considering three or four locations for a
second summit.
|
| October
9. | - The Blue House announces
that President Moon would communicate Kim Jong Un’s
intention to invite the Pope to Pyeongyang during his
official visit to the Vatican on October 17-18, along with
the mention made by Kim at the summit meeting in Pyeongyang
that he would enthusiastically welcome the Pope if he visits
Pyeongyang.
|
| October 12. |
- The two Koreas hold the
working-level military talks at the Military Armistice
Commission (MAC) conference room on the military demarcation
line of the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom.
-
Attendees: (South) A four-member delegation including Army
Col. Cho Yong-geun and working staff. (North) A four-member
delegation including Army Col. Um Chang Nam and working
staff.
- Checking the developments of the landmine
removal work in the Joint Security Area and the areas where
both sides plan to conduct a joint excavation of war
remains; and discussing practical matters including jointly
excavating war remains, opening roads, withdrawing guard
posts on a trial basis, and conducting a joint survey of the
Han River estuary. |
| October
15. | - The two Koreas hold a
high-level meeting for the implementation of the Pyeongyang
Joint Declaration of September 2018 at the Peace House in
Panmunjeom.
- Delegates: (South) Unification Minister
Cho Myoung-gyon (chief), Vice Unification Minister Chun
Hae-sung, Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and
Transport Kim Jeong-ryeol, Second Vice Minister of Culture,
Sports and Tourism Roh Tae-kang, and Deputy Director-General
for the Prime Minister's Office Ahn Moon-hyun. (North)
Chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of
the Country (CPRC) Ri Son Gwon (chief), Minister of
Railroads Kim Yun Hyok, Vice Minister of Land and
Environmental Protection Pak Ho Young, Vice Minister of
Physical Culture and Sports Won Kil U, and Vice Chairman of
the National Economic Cooperation Committee Pak Myong
Chol.
- Joint Press Release: Holding the general-level
military talks ① as soon as possible.
② Holding a
groundbreaking ceremony for the connection and modernization
of railways and roads on the east and west coasts between
late November and early December. ③ Holding the forestry
cooperation talks at the inter-Korean joint liaison office
on October 22. ④ Holding the healthcare talks at the
inter-Korean joint liaison office in late October. ⑤ Holding
the sports talks at the inter-Korean joint liaison office in
late October. ⑥ Holding the Red Cross talks on Mount
Geumgang in November. ⑦ Discussing practical matters
regarding a North Korean art troupe’s performance in the
South. |
| October 15. |
- President Moon Jae-in, in a summit
meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris,
mentions that if it is considered that the denuclearization
of North Korea has reached an irreversible stage, the
international community should further facilitate the
North’s denuclearization by easing the UN sanctions on the
North.
|
| October 15. |
- The Speaker of the ROK National
Assembly meets with Ri Jong Hyok, deputy of the Supreme
People’s Assembly and director of the National Reunification
Institute of North Korea, on the sidelines of the 139th
Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union held in Geneva
of Switzerland.
- They discussed ways to advance
inter-Korean relations through the National Assembly
including the inter-Korean parliamentary talks.
|
| October 15. |
- The DPRK Consultative Council for National
Reconciliation (CCNR) sends the South’s Inter-Korean
Historian Association the message that the two sides should
resume the joint excavation of Manwoldae, a Goryeo-era
palace in Gaeseong, on October 22, which had been scheduled
for September 27 but was delayed at the request of the
North.
|
| October 16. |
- A trilateral consultation body to
demilitarize the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom between
the two Koreas and the UN Command holds the first meeting at
the Freedom House in Panmunjeom.
- Delegates: (South)
A three-member delegation including Army Col. Cho Yong-geun,
director of the North Korea Policy Division at the MND.
(UNC) A three-member delegation including U.S. Army Col.
Burke Hamilton, secretary of the UNC Military Armistice
Commission. (North) A three-member delegation including Army
Col. Um Chang Nam.
- Checking the progress in landmine
removal in the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom beginning
on October 1; holding a working-level meeting on future
measures including withdrawal of weapons and guard posts,
reduction in the number of guards, and adjustment of
surveillance equipment; and holding another meeting to
implement future measures for demilitarization and conduct
mutual verification procedures. |
| October 18. | - President
Moon Jae-in meets with Pope Francis in the Vatican and
relates to him North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s intention
to invite him to Pyeongyang.
|
| October 19. | - The ROK
National Assembly suggests to the North the holding of a
working-level meeting for the inter-Korean parliamentary
talks through the inter-Korean joint liaison office.
|
| October 20. | - North Korea responds to the South’s
proposal to hold the working-level meeting for the
inter-Korean parliamentary talks that it would be better to
hold the meeting later through the inter-Korean joint
liaison office.
|
| October
22. | - The two Koreas hold the
forestry cooperation talks at the inter-Korean joint liaison
office in Gaeseong.
- Delegates: (South) Park Jong-ho,
vice minister of Korea Forest Service; Lim Sang-sup, head of
the Forest Industry and Policy Bureau at the Korea Forest
Service; and Kim Hoon-ah, director of the Ministry of
Unification. (North) Kim Song Jun, deputy director-general
of the General Forestry Bureau at the Ministry of Land and
Environmental Protection (MLEP); Choe Bong Hwan, deputy
director of the General Forestry Bureau at the MLEP; and Son
Ji Myong, official of the National Economic Cooperation
Committee.
- Joint Press Release: ① Annually
conducting forest disease and pest control, including the
control of pine wilt; providing necessary pest control
chemicals to the North by November; and carrying out joint
control of pine wilt by March 2019. ② Modernization of tree
nurseries in the North in a phased manner (modernization of
ten sites planned this year); continuing to discuss
cooperation in forestry equipment production; and visiting
tree nurseries and forestry equipment factories in the North
as necessary. ③ Carrying out cooperative projects for the
protection and restoration of the natural ecosystem
including joint action against forest fire and soil
collapse, and continuing to discuss the issues including
holding of a joint forum for forestry science and
technology. ④ Discussing practical issues through written
correspondence. |
| October
22. | - A trilateral consultation
body to demilitarize the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom
between the two Koreas and the UN Command holds the second
meeting at the Freedom House in Panmunjeom.
-
Confirming the completion of the landmine removal work in
the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjeom; agreeing to
withdraw weapons and guard posts in the JSA by October 25
and to conduct joint verification by a third party for the
following two days; and discussing practical matters
including ways to adjust the number of personnel standing
guard and to carry out joint verification. |
| October 22. | - US
National security adviser John Bolton, in an interview with
The Wall Street Journal, says that the US would press ahead
with a second meeting with North Korea “shortly after the
start of the new year.”
|
| October 22. | - South and
North Korea resume the joint excavation of Manwoldae, a
Goryeo-era royal palace in Gaeseong.
|
| October 25. | - A group
of North Korean football players visit South Korea to
participate in the 5th Ari Sports Cup youth football
tournament in Chuncheon and Inje, Gangwon Province (until
November 3).
|
| October
26. | - The two Koreas hold
general-level military talks at the Thongil House on the
northern side of Panmunjeom.
- Delegates: (South) Kim
Do-kyun (chief, Army Major General), director general for
North Korea Policy at the Ministry of National Defense
(MND); Cho Yong-geun (Army Colonel), director of the North
Korea Policy Division at the MND; Ahn Sang-min (Navy Capt.),
director of the Maritime Operations Division of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff; Lee Jong-joo, director of the Inter-Korean
Dialogue Division 1 at the Ministry of Unification; Hwang
Jun, director of the Hydrographic Survey Division at the
Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. (North) Army Lieut. Gen.
An Ik San (chief), Army Col. Kim Dong Il, Navy Capt. Oh
Myong Chol, Army Col. Ham In Sup, and Army Col. Kim Kwang
Hyup.
- Joint Press Release: Confirming that as of
November 1, both sides shall cease all ① hostile acts
against each other in every domain including land, sea, and
air, and shall employ new military operational procedures. ②
Withdrawing military personnel and equipment and completely
demolishing guard posts by the end of November; mutually
verifying the progress in December; and completing all
measures by the end of this year. Holding a working-level
meeting for the withdrawal of all remaining guard posts. ③
Mutually confirming that the work of removing landmines and
building roads for joint excavation of war remains in the
DMZ is underway as planned, and agreeing to carry out the
preparations to ensure that the pilot excavation of war
remains can begin in earnest in April 2019. ④ Forming a
joint survey team composed of 10 people from each side to
conduct a joint survey of cross-border waterways in the
Han/Imjin River Estuary in early November, as part of
preliminary measures to guarantee the freedom of navigation
of private vessels in the area. ⑤ Forming the Inter-Korean
Joint Military Committee as soon as possible in accordance
with the Agreement on the Composition and Operation of the
Inter-Korean Joint Military Committee agreed in May 1992. ⑥
Confirming that the trilateral consultation body between the
two Koreas and the United Nations Command is discussing ways
to demilitarize the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom and
that disarmament is proceeding as planned. |
| October 29-30. | - US
Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun visits
South Korea and meets with the chief presidential secretary,
the National Security Office director, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of Unification.
-
Both sides agreed to form a working group to discuss
denuclearization, sanctions on North Korea, and inter-Korean
cooperation. |
| October 30. |
- The World Taekwondo delegation
and demonstration team led by President Choue Chung-won
visit Pyeongyang (until November 3).
|
