South Korean President Moon Jae-in landed in Pyongyang on Tuesday for his third summit this year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Moon’s goals are lofty: To try to resolve deadlocked nuclear diplomacy, ease a decades-long military standoff and promote peace on a Korean Peninsula that many feared was close to war last year.

The two leaders hugged each other as they met at Pyongyang airport, joined by their wives.

Mr Moon is only the third South Korean leader to visit North Korea’s capital for a summit between the two countries since the peninsula was divided at the end of Second World War in 1945.

It is the third time the two leaders will have met this year, with their previous meetings taking place at the Koreas’ shared border village of Panmunjom.

Mr Moon said he is pushing for “irreversible, permanent peace” and for better dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington during “heart-to-heart” talks with Kim.

Both leaders want the US to sign off on formally ending the Korean War, which still technically continues because no peace treaty has ever been signed.

The South Korean president has also said he will focus on easing military tensions and promoting talks on denuclearisation issues.

Mr Moon said he wants “to find a middle ground between a US request for (North Korea’s) denuclearisation and the North’s request for corresponding measures such as ending hostile relations and security assurances”.