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to announce an end to the war that started in 1950 and concluded with the Korean War armistice in 1953, which has never been replaced by a definitive peace treaty.
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HP Cong Minority Morcha delegation meets with party leader Venugopal over mosque row
Shimla (PTI): A delegation of the Himachal Congress Minority Morcha apprised the party's central leaders on Thursday of the atmosphere of fear created in the state by targeting a particular community and staging demonstrations near mosques.
The delegation led by Iqbal Mohammad, president of the state Congress Minority Morcha, also comprised imams of various mosques. It met with Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and its Minority Morcha national president Imran Pratapgarhi in New Delhi.
In a statement here, the state Congress Minority Morcha said the situation has become tense due to demonstrations by Hindu outfits in front of mosques and efforts were being made to vitiate the atmosphere and instill fear among Muslims.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is trying to take people of all religions along but some elements are trying to spoil the atmosphere and malign the government, it added.
According to the statement, Venugopal spoke to the chief minister over the phone over the issue.
Ten people were injured during a protest demanding the demolition of a portion of a mosque in Shimla's Sanjauli area last week. In Mandi, police used water cannons on protestors demanding the demolition of an unauthorised portion of a mosque in the town.
On Tuesday, residents of Kasumpti in Shimla submitted a memorandum to demolish a mosque in the area and similar demands are also coming in from Sunni and other areas in the state.
A dispute between a barber from the minority community and a local businessman in the Malyana area in the suburbs of Shimla on August 30 turned into a communal issue with Hindu groups demanding the demolition of unauthorised mosques and residents calling for the identification and verification of outsiders coming in the state.
