By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ANKARA (AA) - Seoul is seeking a one-on-one meeting with U.S. secretary of state days ahead of a scheduled summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
According to Korean news agency Yonhap, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is traveling to Poland this week to attend U.S.-sponsored ministerial meeting on peace and security in the Middle East on Wednesday and Thursday.
"Minister Kang is pushing for bilateral talks with (counterparts) from other participating countries, including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo," the South Korean Foreign Ministry's spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said at a press briefing today.
The statement regarding the proposed meeting comes a day after when South Korean president said that the upcoming summit will become a "critical turning point" for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and peacemaking process.
Kang and Pompeo will discuss issues related to a second summit between Trump and Kim, the Seoul official said. “The two sides are in consultations on a specific date and time.”
The meeting between Pompeo and Kang is expected to be held on Thursday, one Seoul official told the news agency.
Trump and Kim are set to meet for their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, at the end of this month where the U.S. president will seek denuclearization of the Korean peninsula while Pyongyang will seek the lifting of UN sanctions.
The two leaders broke the years of impasse last June when they met in Singapore.
Trump’s envoy on North Korea has asserted that the U.S. president wants an end to the Korean War.