The South Korean president has hinted at the possibility of a three-way summit between the two Koreas and the United States if the upcoming inter-Korean summit and the US-North Korea summit end satisfactorily.
Moon Jae-in is set to meet North Korea's Kim Jong-un in late April for the first inter-Korean summit in 11 years, while US President Donald Trump is due to meet Kim in May.
"Holding a North Korea-US summit following a South-North Korea summit itself is a historical event. And depending on their outcomes, they may lead to a three-way summit of South, North and US," Moon said in a preparatory meeting for his encounter with Kim Jong-un, the presidential office reported.
The historic meetings come after the easing of tensions during the Winter Olympics held in South Korea recently, which served as an occasion for both countries to send delegates across the border and finally culminated in the announcement of the two summits to discuss the possibility of the denuclearisation of North Korea.
"We must completely resolve the issues of denuclearising the Korean Peninsula and establishing peace through these upcoming talks and others that will follow," Moon said on Wednesday.
The South Korean president's remarks come on a day when Pyongyang finally broke its silence in official media over the warming of ties with Seoul and Washington, almost two weeks after the announcement of the two summits.
However, the official propaganda did not mention the two summits and accused conservative factions in Washington, Tokyo and Seoul of trying to spoil the atmosphere and urged all parties to have "prudence, self-control and patience."
