North Korea’s Kim Jong-un’s big step into South Korea for Inter Korean Summit

KIM Jong-un is set to cross into South Korea today for a historic summit, making him the first leader to visit since the Korean War ended in 1953.

NORTH Korea’s Kim Jong-un is set to cross the heavily militarised border for the first summit with South Korea in more than a decade, as the old foes seek to end their decades-long conflict and ease tensions over the North’s nuclear weapons program.

The summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in will set the stage for Kim to meet with US President Donald Trump in late May or early June, in what will be an unprecedented first encounter between sitting leaders of the two countries.

South Koreans hold up placards of South Korean President Moon Jae-In and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a rally welcoming the planned Inter Korean Summit. Picture: Getty

Just months ago, Mr Trump and Kim were trading threats and insults as North Korea’s rapid advances in pursuit of nuclear-armed missiles capable of hitting the US raised fears of a fresh conflict on the Korean peninsula.

South Korea’s Moon will personally greet Kim at the military demarcation line at 9:30am (10:30am AEST) on Friday, making Kim the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Members of the South Korean women's peace group stage a rally to support the upcoming summit between South and North Korea at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea. Picture: AP

The two will be escorted by South Korean honour guards to an official welcoming ceremony before beginning official dialogue at 10:30am at Peace House, a South Korean building inside the border truce village of Panmunjom.

In a dramatic gesture just days before the summit, Kim announced North Korea would suspend nuclear and long-range missile tests and dismantle its only known nuclear test site.

But scepticism is rampant about whether Kim is ready to abandon the hard-earned nuclear arsenal his country has defended and developed for decades as what it says is a necessary deterrent against US invasion.

South Korean army soldiers patrol at Unification Bridge, which leads to Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea. Picture: AP

South Korea hopes North Korea’s leader on Friday will directly confirm his will for “complete” denuclearisation of the peninsula.

The two neighbours expect to release a joint statement late on Friday — possibly called the Panmunjom Declaration — that could address denuclearisation and peace, and an improvement in relations, South Korean officials said.

A woman walks by a banner showing a map of the Korean peninsular to wish for a successful inter-Korean summit in Seoul, South Korea. Picture: AP