Envoys convene to plan summits

SEOUL — Top U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials discussed how to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during weekend talks ahead of upcoming inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korean summits, Seoul said Monday.

South Korean officials who visited Pyongyang recently say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to hold talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late April. Seoul says Kim also proposed meeting with President Trump.

Trump then agreed to meet Kim by the end of May, but North Korea has yet to confirm talks with the U.S.

The developments have raised hopes for a breakthrough in the North Korean nuclear crisis. But many experts say tensions would flare again if the summits fail to make any progress and leave the nuclear issue with few diplomatic options.

U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster met his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Chung Eui-yong and Shotaro Yachi, in San Francisco for talks over the weekend on denuclearization and the summits, South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement.

They agreed to maintain close trilateral cooperation in the next several weeks and shared a view that it’s important not to repeat past mistakes, the statement said. It didn’t elaborate but likely refers to criticism that North Korea previously used disarmament negotiations as a way to ease outside pressure and win aid while all along secretly pressing its weapons development.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told CBS on Sunday that Kim had “given his word” that he was committed to denuclearization.