South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have held their first round of talks in a historic summit in Pyongyang aimed at restarting US-North Korea talks on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

Moon arrived in Pyongyang on a direct flight from Seoul for a three-day visit, becoming the third South Korean leader in history to have visited the North Korean capital, South Korean News Agency (Yonhap) reported.

The third Moon-Kim summit began at 3:45 pm at the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The North Korean leader has argued his country has taken many significant and irreversible measures that left the country unable to stage any more nuclear or missile tests.

Moon earlier stressed the need to find an intersecting point between the two.

Also on the agenda are further reduction of military tension between the divided Koreas and improvement in their bilateral relations, which Moon says will help promote and even accelerate the North's denuclearisation process.

More than a dozen top South Korean business leaders are accompanying the president.

According to officials from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, they will likely offer a glimpse of the economic cooperation and assistance for a denuclearised North Korea that Seoul could provide.

No new economic cooperation projects will be offered to the North during Moon's three-day trip to Pyongyang, Yoon told a press briefing in Seoul.

Moon was set to attend a welcome dinner later Tuesday that could possibly be hosted by the North Korean leader. He and Kim will meet again early Wednesday for a second round of talks.

Depending on the outcome of their talks, the two leaders may hold a joint press conference in Pyongyang to announce the outcome of their summit, Cheong Wa Dae officials have said.