Trump to meet S Korea’s Moon before summit with Kim Jong Un

NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump is likely to hold talks with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in before his historical summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, officials in Seoul have indicated.

Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet in late May or early June at a yet-to-be-determined location, the first meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the US after almost 70 years of confrontation.

The Moon-Trump meet will likely take place in Washington, where the South Korean president will brief his US counterpart on his own meet with Kim and what transpired at the inter-Korea meet scheduled for this week, CNN reported, citing a senior official in Moon’s administration.

Japanese newspaper The Mainichi reported that the MoonTrump talks are expected to be held around mid-May.

According to an unnamed Blue House official, Moon and Trump will also speak on telephone immediately after the inter-Korea summit.

The CNN report, quoting Moon’s secretary for public relations Yoon Young-chan, said South Korea’s top national security official Chung Eui-yong raised the possibility of a TrumpMoon summit during a meeting with US National Security Adviser John Bolton.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, Chung travelled to Washington in March, shortly after meeting Kim in Pyongyang to convey the North Korean leader’s desire to hold a summit with Trump.HTC