Seoul and Washington agree to push for summit talks in late June

By Park Sae-jin Posted : May 16, 2017, 16:08 Updated : May 16, 2017, 17:08
 

[Yonhap Photo]


South Korean and US officials reached a provisional agreement on holding summit talks between the leaders of the two countries in Washington in late June, the president's office said Tuesday.

The agreement came at talks between Matt Pottinger, senior director for East Asia at the US National Security Council, and Chung Eui-yong who leads President Moon Jae-in's security and diplomatic task force, the office said. A concrete timetable and the agenda for summit talks would be fixed through a diplomatic channel. 

Pottinger, who delivered US President Donald Trump's message to Moon, is the first high-ranking White House official to visit South Korea after the liberal president was sworn in last Wednesday.

The two sides agreed to work toward the "complete" denuclearization of North Korea and use all available means including sanctions and dialogue, chief presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan told reporters, adding the US side reaffirmed its strong commitment to the security and defense of South Korea.

Tuesday's meeting was a follow-up to a telephone conversation last week between Moon and Trump who agreed to meet as early as possible to discuss North Korea and other pending issues. Moon has named Hong Seok-hyun, who once headed South Korea's media group, JoongAng, as his special envoy to Washington.

In light of North Korea's provocations, Washington does not see the right conditions under which it could engage with Pyongyang, Pottinger told reporters after separate talks with South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Jeong-kyu.

"Right now, we certainly do not see the right conditions in light of the provocations," he said. "We want to make sure that only under the right conditions should some kind of talks take place."

A dispute over the deployment of a US missile shield in South Korea was also discussed, Pottinger said. "We look forward to continuing the conversation," he said, expressing confidence that the alliance between Seoul and Washington would get stronger.

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com

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