As we heard from our Moon Connyoung,... President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump are to sit down for their high-stakes summit with just interpreters by their sides.
Our Cha Sang-mi delves into the implications Tuesday's talks at the White House could have on the planned North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in began his trip in Washington for his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Their discussions will focus on North Korea... with just over three weeks remaining until the planned summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Experts say Moon will play a crucial role, in terms of coordinating the two countries' North Korea policies.
"I think it is also important for the President Moon to mediate the differences between the U.S. and North Korea. It seems to be that North Korea still favors this gradual, phased approach, you know action-for-action approach, whereas Mr. Trump and the Trump administration favors much faster approach toward the denuclearization."
Another expert says the U.S. will likely maintain maximum pressure on the Pyongyang regime,... unless meaningful steps are taken towards "denuclearization",... the exact definition of which remains unclear.
"Where in that spectrum from a complete, immediate denuclearization to a phased denuclearization that would immediately involve the end of the ICBM program, the Trump administration is willing to accept, I am not sure at this moment."
The North's recent cancellation of inter-Korean talks and threats to scrap its summit with Trump is quite understandable according to other experts.
They say the joint South Korea-U.S. exercises are ill-timed given the ongoing peace negotiations.
"North Korea is little bit more difficult. They go back and forth. They have sort of this strategy for engagement like yes, no, yes, no, but their basic principles regarding engagement with the world and approach to nuclear weapon, etcetera, have been quite logical for the last 20 years."
Whether any form of denuclearization will occur, or if the peace talks will resume, experts unanimously say nobody will know until the June meeting.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.