The government’s first advance team has arrived in Pyongyang, launching consultations with North Korean officials in preparation for the upcoming inter-Korean summit.

The group headed by Vice Unification Minister Lee Kwan-se arrived at Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang around noon Tuesday after crossing the heavily fortified Military Demarcation Line dividing the two Koreas earlier in the day. The trip from Seoul to the hotel took five and a half hours.

The 35-member group used a cross-border Gyeongui highway to Gaesong and another highway linking the North’s border city with the North Korean capital for the trip, checking road conditions along the way.

A Unification Ministry official in Seoul said that the advance team arrived in Pyongyang at the expected time, and soon set up an operations headquarters at the hotel to prepare for the summit.

The team is scheduled to stay in Pyongyang for four days to make necessary arrangements for the South-North summit.