Moon to meet Trump on stalled N. Korea dialogue

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is in the US for talks with his American counterpart Donald Trump that will focus on ways to bring North Korea back to the dialogue table over denuclearization.

Moon's visit on Wednesday followed Trump's second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held in Hanoi. Talks between Washington and Pyongyang have since stalled as the summit in late February ended abruptly and without a deal.

The Moon-Trump summit will be held on Thursday following talks between the South Korean President and key US players in the denuclearization talks with Pyongyang that include Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, according to an official from Seoul's presidential office.

Trump earlier asked his South Korean counterpart to help facilitate his future dialogue with Kim. Moon has so far held three bilateral meetings with Kim and is now pushing for a fourth one, Yonhap news agency reported.

Moon was also scheduled to meet US Vice President Mike Pence before his summit with Trump.

"The upcoming (South Korea-US) summit comes on a joint view that consultation between the two countries is important to quickly revive the momentum for dialogue following the Hanoi summit," Kim Hyun-chong, a Deputy Director of the National Security Office at the Presidential Palace, said earlier.

Moon is widely expected to encourage Trump to continue personally engaging with the North under the so-called "top-down" approach to denuclearization, the report said.

The South Korean President will head back home later Thursday.

--IANS

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