By Kim Bo-eun
Extensive rounds of diplomacy are unfolding, prompted by the inter-Korean summit last Friday in which the leaders of the North and South agreed to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
President Moon Jae-in affirmed close cooperation with his counterparts in the U.S., Japan and Russia on North Korea's denuclearization following his summit with the North's leader Kim Jong-un, in phone calls held over the weekend. The leaders of South Korea, Japan and China will meet in Tokyo in the coming weeks to bolster cooperation ahead of North Korea's summit with the U.S.
The meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump will address the specific measures North Korea will take to achieve the set goal of denuclearization. Kim told Moon during the summit that he would invite South Korean and U.S. experts and journalists to the scene when the regime shuts down its Punggye-ri nuclear testing site this month. The U.S. has called for North Korea's complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of its nuclear program.
The date of the Pyongyang-Washington summit has yet to be fixed but it is likely to take place earlier than originally expected.
Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Moon and Trump agreed the North Korea-U.S. summit should be held as soon as circumstances allow, as a means to continue the momentum of the success of the inter-Korean summit.
At a rally in Michigan, Saturday, Trump said the meeting may take place in three or four weeks.
The Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar and Singapore have been cited as the candidates, according to foreign media reports.
Moon is expected to fly to Washington to meet Trump before the Pyongyang-Washington summit. A Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters Monday that Moon's meeting with Trump will be arranged after the Trump-Kim summit date is fixed.
A three-way summit of the two Koreas with the U.S. could take place after the Pyongyang-Washington summit. Moon hinted earlier at the idea of a three-way summit, to discuss formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, an issue that was addressed during last week's summit.
Meanwhile Moon and Trump's 75-minute call was the longest that took place so far. The leaders affirmed they will closely cooperate to reach an agreement on specific means to achieve complete denuclearization.
After Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's phone conversation Sunday, Abe told reporters in Tokyo that Moon brought up the issue of abducted Japanese nationals in North Korea, as well as normalizing Pyongyang-Tokyo relations during the summit.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service director Suh Hoon visited Tokyo the same day, and met with Abe to brief him on the summit, following the Abe-Moon phone call.
Moon also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin the same day, in which the latter stated railway, gas and electricity lines connecting the Korean Peninsula with Siberia would contribute to the peninsula's stability and prosperity.
Moon is set to hold a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping within this week, a key Cheong Wa Dae official said. Russian media reported Putin has invited Moon for a summit in Moscow in June.
Extensive rounds of diplomacy are unfolding, prompted by the inter-Korean summit last Friday in which the leaders of the North and South agreed to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
President Moon Jae-in affirmed close cooperation with his counterparts in the U.S., Japan and Russia on North Korea's denuclearization following his summit with the North's leader Kim Jong-un, in phone calls held over the weekend. The leaders of South Korea, Japan and China will meet in Tokyo in the coming weeks to bolster cooperation ahead of North Korea's summit with the U.S.
The meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump will address the specific measures North Korea will take to achieve the set goal of denuclearization. Kim told Moon during the summit that he would invite South Korean and U.S. experts and journalists to the scene when the regime shuts down its Punggye-ri nuclear testing site this month. The U.S. has called for North Korea's complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of its nuclear program.
The date of the Pyongyang-Washington summit has yet to be fixed but it is likely to take place earlier than originally expected.
Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Moon and Trump agreed the North Korea-U.S. summit should be held as soon as circumstances allow, as a means to continue the momentum of the success of the inter-Korean summit.
At a rally in Michigan, Saturday, Trump said the meeting may take place in three or four weeks.
A day earlier, in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House, Trump said the possible location of the summit has been narrowed down to two places.
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The Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar and Singapore have been cited as the candidates, according to foreign media reports.
Moon is expected to fly to Washington to meet Trump before the Pyongyang-Washington summit. A Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters Monday that Moon's meeting with Trump will be arranged after the Trump-Kim summit date is fixed.
A three-way summit of the two Koreas with the U.S. could take place after the Pyongyang-Washington summit. Moon hinted earlier at the idea of a three-way summit, to discuss formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, an issue that was addressed during last week's summit.
Meanwhile Moon and Trump's 75-minute call was the longest that took place so far. The leaders affirmed they will closely cooperate to reach an agreement on specific means to achieve complete denuclearization.
After Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's phone conversation Sunday, Abe told reporters in Tokyo that Moon brought up the issue of abducted Japanese nationals in North Korea, as well as normalizing Pyongyang-Tokyo relations during the summit.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service director Suh Hoon visited Tokyo the same day, and met with Abe to brief him on the summit, following the Abe-Moon phone call.
Moon also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin the same day, in which the latter stated railway, gas and electricity lines connecting the Korean Peninsula with Siberia would contribute to the peninsula's stability and prosperity.
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