A high-level South Korean delegation met with Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang on Wednesday, as Seoul plans a new summit with the North Korean leader to break a deadlock in denuclearisation talks.
The South's President Moon Jae-in's special envoy Chung Eui-yong, who is leading the five-member delegation, earlier said he would discuss ways to "completely denuclearise" the Korean peninsula and establish "lasting peace".
His delegation "met with Chairman Kim Jong-un and delivered a personal letter (from Moon) and exchanged opinions," a presidential office spokesman in Seoul said.
The spokesman added that officials would fly back to Seoul later tonight after a dinner banquet but did not provide further details.
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached a vague agreement at a landmark summit in June to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but there has been little movement since.
Talks reached an impasse last month when Trump abruptly cancelled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to North Korea, citing a lack of progress.
The stated aim of the South Korean delegation's day-long visit to Pyongyang is to finalise details of a third summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, due later this month.
But observers said that Moon's personal letter to Kim will likely be a proposal aimed at breaking the denuclearisation impasse.
The envoy was likely to suggest "that Kim gives a firm commitment to presenting a list of nuclear weapons and fissile materials demanded by the US in return for a declaration of the end of the Korean War," Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.
Despite the deadlock with the North, Trump expressed his hopes for the success of the next inter-Korean summit in a phone conversation with Moon on Tuesday.
