Pyongyang, Seoul officials meet to discuss leaders' summit
Seoul, April 18: Representatives of North and South Korea on Wednesday held a preparatory meeting on protocols and security at their shared border ahead of the historic summit between its leaders next week.
The meeting took place in the "truce village" of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone where South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet for the first time on April 27, reports Efe news.
Wednesday's meeting focused on matters related to protocol and the security of the leaders, as well as the arrangement of numerous accredited national and international media for coverage of the summit, according to Seoul's Presidential Office.
There could be another high-level meeting at the end of this week to conclude all preparations for the first meeting between the leaders of both countries in 11 years.
It is expected that denuclearization will be one of the key points of the historic talks between Kim and Moon.
In addition, South Korean media suggested that a possible agreement between the two countries could be negotiated to announce an end to the war that started in 1950 and concluded with the Korean War armistice in 1953, which has never been replaced by a definitive peace treaty.
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Lok Sabha seats in southern states to increase from 129 to 195: Amit Shah
New Delhi (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said a "completely false" narrative is being spread that the representation of southern states will go down in the Lok Sabha after its strength is increased to 816 seats following the implementation of women's reservation and delimitation of constituencies.
Intervening in the debate in Lok Sabha on the three bills introduced for amendment of the women's quota law and to set up a delimitation commission, Shah said the fact is that the number of seats will go up and power will grow.
He said the number of Lok Sabha seats in the five southern states will go up from the present 129 to 195 seats while the percentage of power will increase from 23.76 per cent to 23.87 or almost 24 per cent.
"Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka will increase to 42 from the present 28; in Andhra Pradesh, the number of Lok Sabha sets will increase to 38 from 25; in Telangana, it will be 26 from present 17; in Tamil Nadu, the number of Lok Sabha seats will go up to 59 from the present 39; and in Kerala, it will be 30 seats from the present 20," he said.
Shah strongly rejected the opposition suggestion that the government will indulge in some kind of "mischief" during the delimitation exercise, saying the NDA government has not made any changes in the existing law.
"The delimitation bill is exactly like the previous law brought by your government. There is no change, not even a comma or a full stop," he said.
Explaining how the total number of seats in the new Lok Sabha is fixed at 816, the home minister said it is exactly 50 per cent more than the current total seats.
