South Korea leader urges denuclearization steps from North

South Korea's president today urged Pyongyang to show a plan for concrete steps toward denuclearisation, raising the pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his visit to Beijing to discuss the outcome of his summit with President Donald Trump.

Kim is in Beijing on his third visit to China this year, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbours.

A report by the Korean Central News Agency said Kim expressed his gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping when they met yesterday.

KCNA said that during a banquet hosted by Xi, Kim also said Pyongyang and Beijing are seeing their ties develop into "unprecedentedly special relations." At the summit with Trump in Singapore, Kim pledged to work toward denuclearisation in exchange for US security guarantees.

The US and South Korea suspended a major joint military exercise that was planned in August in what was seen as a major victory for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia.

In Seoul, South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged North Korea to present "far more concrete" plans on how to scrap its nuclear program and the United States to take unspecified corresponding measures swiftly.

"It's necessary for North Korea to present far more concrete denuclearisation plans, and I think it's necessary for the United States to swiftly reciprocate by coming up with comprehensive measures," Moon said. Moon's office said he made the remarks to Russian media ahead of his trip to Moscow later this week.

Moon, who met with Kim twice in recent months, said the North Korean leader is willing to give up his nuclear programme and focus on economic development if he's provided with a reliable security guarantee.

Moon described Kim as "forthright," ''careful" and "polite."