Our top story this afternoon...
Seoul and Washington have announced that South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Washington for a one-on-one with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 22nd… ahead of the North Korea-U.S. Summit expected to take place a few weeks after that.
Our chief Blue House correspondent Moon Connyoung starts us off.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on the 22nd of this month at the White House to discuss the U.S. leader’s upcoming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House and the White House announced on Saturday that the talks are aimed at affirming the enduring strength of the alliance and continuing their close coordination on developments regarding the Korean Peninsula following the April 27 inter-Korean Summit.
The South Korean president’s U.S. visit was announced after his national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, met with his U.S. counterpart, John Bolton, at the White House on Friday.
Following the meeting, Chung told reporters that it was “unacceptable that the issue of the U.S. forces Korea keeps being raised.”
He was referring to a New York Times report that Trump had asked the Pentagon to consider the option of U.S. troops withdrawal or reduction from South Korea… although the U.S. president said it was not true and Bolton called the report “utter nonsense.”
The White House released a statement late Friday saying that the national security advisers of the South Korea and the U.S. said there are no plans to change the two allies’ bilateral defense posture.
The unprecedented North Korea, U.S. summit is expected to take place in the next few weeks with U.S. President Trump upping the suspense on Friday saying the date and location for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have been set and will be announced soon.
Moon Connyoung, Arirang News.