US, South Korean leaders to meet in Washington in April

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - The U.S. and South Korean presidents will hold a summit meeting in Washington next month, South Korean media reported Friday.

The summit comes on the heels of the breakdown of U.S.-North Korea talks aimed at denuclearization of the Korean peninsula last month when Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un unexpectedly cut short their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.

South Korean news agency Yonhap cited a presidential spokesman as saying that the summit will be held on April 11 in Washington D.C., a day after South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrives in the U.S.

The meeting will be the first official gathering of the two leaders since the Hanoi summit in late February.

"The leaders will have in-depth talks to discuss ways to strengthen the Seoul-Washington alliance and to coordinate their stance on setting up a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization," Yoon Do-han said at a news briefing.

Trump after Hanoi summit had claimed that Pyongyang demanded the lifting of sanctions "in their entirety" in exchange to dismantling only the main Yongbyon nuclear complex.

However, North Korea rejected such claim saying that it only demanded partial relief of sanctions linked to people's livelihoods.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Unification Ministry said today that it will try to seek a visit by Kim for a summit with Moon this year in Seoul.

"[It will help] to improve cross-border relations and help move the stalled denuclearization process forward,” Yonhap quoted a statement by the ministry.

Moon and Kim have held three summits, so far, latest in last September in Pyongyang.

Kim Jong-un agreed to make a visit to Seoul which was expected by the end of 2018 but it never happened, Yonhap said.