Two Koreas hold 'serious' and 'thorough' preparatory talks on upcoming summit

남북 실무 대표단, 정상회담 의전, 경호, 보도 관련 4시간 릴레이 협의 마치고 복귀 With the historic summit between South and North Korea to take place at the end of April,... working-level officials from the two Koreas met on Thursday to thrash out the details on protocol, security, and media coverage on the big day. Our Blue House correspondent Hwang Hojun reports. A "serious and thorough" discussion on ways to successfully hold the summit. Without sharing much else, that's how Blue House Press Center Director Kwon Hyuk-ki described the first working-level preparatory talks held in the border village of Panmunjom on Thursday, ahead of the April 27 summit between Seoul and Pyongyang. Kwon was part of the five-member delegation from South Korea; the team was led by the deputy director of the National Intelligence Service. The six-member delegation from North Korea was headed by Kim Chang-son, an official from Pyongyang's State Affairs Commission. The meeting was to discuss security, protocol, and media coverage issues for the summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The meeting kicked off in the morning on the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area and lasted four hours without a lunch break. However, the Cheong Wa Dae Press Center chief said they had little to share about the meeting results due to security reasons. He emphasized details of the preparatory talks will not be disclosed until both sides reach a final agreement. The South Korean delegation says it will take more than one meeting for the two sides to work out the details: they need to agree on how the North Korean leader would arrive at the venue - on the South Korean side of the inter-Korean border - whether he would cross the military demarcation line that bisects the Koreas by foot in a symbolic gesture. They also need to determine how many times the two leaders would meet on that day and whether parts of their meeting would be televised live. However, the South Korean delegation declined to answer how many more times they expect to meet with their North Korean counterparts before everything is settled... only adding the two sides agreed to meet for a second time but did not stipulate a specific date. Hwang Hojun, Arirang News. Arirang News Facebook:   / arirangtvnews   ------------------------------------------------------------ [Subscribe Arirang Official YouTube] ARIRANG TV:    / arirang   ARIRANG RADIO:    / music180arirang   ARIRANG NEWS:    / arirangnews   ARIRANG K-POP:    / arirangworld   ARIRANG ISSUE:    / arirangtoday   ARIRANG CULTURE:    / arirangkorean   ARIRANG FOOD & TRAVEL :    / arirangfoodtravel   ------------------------------------------------------------ [Visit Arirang TV Official Pages] Facebook:   / arirangtv   Twitter:   / arirangworld   Instagram:   / arirangworld   Homepage: http://www.arirang.com ------------------------------------------------------------ [Arirang K-Pop] YouTube:    / arirangworld   Facebook:   / arirangkpop   Google+: http://plus.google.com/+arirangworld