By Lee Min-hyung
President Moon Jae-in will visit Washington next month for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the planned meeting between the latter and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.
Moon and Trump are expected to exchange their ideas on pending security issues on the peninsula, including bilateral ways to verify the North's denuclearization pledge.
The Moon-Trump summit may take place in mid-May, the presidential office said, adding details of the summit are still being discussed.
To arrange the summit, National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong met with U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton at the White House, Tuesday. They also discussed progress on achieving the goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula before the inter-Korean summit.
“The two ranking officials negotiated plans to arrange a meeting between Moon and Trump ahead of the Washington-Pyongyang summit,” presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan told reporters.
A specific timeline for the summit between the U.S. and North Korea has yet to be confirmed, but both sides are narrowing their differences to pinpoint a date sometime in late May and early June.
“Moon will brief Trump on the results of the upcoming inter-Korean summit by telephone right after it ends Friday,” Yoon said.
With the North showing a strong willingness this year for nuclear disarmament, Cheong Wa Dae is seeking to take advantage of the momentum by engaging in a series of inter-Korean activities.
On Wednesday, Cheong Wa Dae hinted that President Moon could propose holding summits on a regular basis.
This is because the denuclearization issue cannot be resolved immediately. The presidential office hopes to hold a series of regular inter-Korean summits to narrow differences on complicated and sensitive issues.
Last week, presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok said the government is paying looking toward holding summits periodically at the truce village of Panmunjeom.
“We are very interested in holding summits from time to time at Panmunjeom,” Im told reporters in a media briefing last week.
“If summits are held regularly, this will make it easier for both sides to resolve inter-Korean issues which are not settled during working-level or high-level talks.”
Rehearsals for historic inter-Korean summit
The two Koreas held joint rehearsals for the summit Wednesday on the southern side of Panmunjom.
“The South's summit preparatory committee shared detailed scenarios for Friday's summit with their northern counterpart to make final preparations,” presidential spokesman Kwon Hyuk-ki said.
“In particular, we have paid close attention to broadcasting and camera systems to make sure nothing goes awry during the summit set to be broadcast live across the world.”
On Thursday, Im Jong-seok ― who heads the South's summit preparatory committee ― will give a final briefing on the detailed schedule of the summit at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. A group of 3,000 reporters here and abroad are expected to visit the venue to cover the summit.