UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's commitment to continue working towards the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Kim on Wednesday pledged to denuclearise North Korea by the end of Donald Trump's first term in 2021, officials in South Korea said.
It comes as Kim and South Korea's president Moon Jae-in have agreed to a summit in North Korea from 18-20 September - the third between the two leaders this year.
"The Secretary-General commends the continued momentum and efforts by both Koreas to further trust-building and reconciliation, in line with the Panmunjom Declaration," his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement released on Thursday.
Dujarric added that the UN chief "looks forward to further progress at the inter-Korean summit later this month towards sustainable peace, security, and complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, in accordance with relevant Security Council resolutions.
" North Korea's national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, said that Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet in Pyongyang to discuss denuclearisation measures marking the first time that the North Korean leader has offered a potential timeline for fully dismantling his country's nuclear weapons programme.
In June, after the summit in Singapore, Kim pledged to work toward the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula in return for security guarantees from the US, as Trump wrapped up the meeting with outcomes that could ease tensions and reshape the geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region.