ZCZC
BFF-13
SKOREA-US-NKOREA-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY
Trump, Moon to meet in Washington in April: Seoul
SEOUL, March 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump will host his
South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in next month, Seoul said Friday, after the
latest summit between Washington and Pyongyang ended in deadlock.
Moon has long backed a policy of engagement with nuclear-armed, sanctions-
hit Pyongyang and was instrumental in brokering talks between Trump and North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
But the failure of Kim and Trump to reach an agreement in Hanoi on
curtailing Pyongyang’s nuclear programme in exchange for relaxation of
sanctions has raised questions over the future of the process.
Moon will visit Washington for two days from April 10, an official from the
South’s presidential Blue House told AFP.
“The two leaders will have in-depth talks… to coordinate their stance on
setting up a peace regime on the Korean peninsula through complete
denuclearisation,” Yoon Do-han, the senior presidential press secretary said
Friday.
Earlier this month, Pyongyang abruptly pulled its staff out of an inter-
Korean liaison office, but the officials came back to the joint facility in
the Northern city of Kaesong days later.
Their return came after Trump announced he had “ordered” the withdrawal of
additional sanctions — without identifying the measures — against Pyongyang
by the US Treasury.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0854 hrs