(LEAD) Moon holds security meeting on eve of trip by special envoy to N. Korea

All News 16:53 September 04, 2018

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SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in held a special meeting with security-related officials Tuesday, one day before his top security adviser was set to embark on a trip to North Korea.

The meeting, held at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, began at 4 p.m. and also involved Moon's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, who will visit Pyongyang on Wednesday as a special envoy of the president.

President Moon Jae-in (second from L) holds a special meeting with security-related ministers at his office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Sept. 4, 2018, one day before his top security adviser, Chung Eui-yong (second from R), was set to travel to Pyongyang for discussions on a proposed inter-Korean summit and ways to move forward the denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea. (Yonhap)

The trip is widely aimed at arranging a proposed summit between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

However, it also comes amid a deadlock in denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called off a scheduled North Korea trip by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing what he called a lack of progress in the denuclearization process.

North Korea, on the other hand, is believed to be demanding a quid pro quo for its denuclearization steps taken so far.

Cheong Wa Dae has repeated its hope the trip by Chung may again help broker a deal between the two countries.

"I wish (the envoy) will also fulfill his role as priming water to enable a North Korea visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and progress in the denuclearization talks between the North and the U.S.," Moon's chief of staff Im Jong-seok said earlier.

Chung's trip to Pyongyang will be the second of its kind in six months, following his March 5-6 trip to the North Korean capital that helped arrange the historic meeting between the U.S. president and the North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12.

He will be heading a five-member delegation that includes National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon and Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung.

The same five members visited North Korea in March.

Tuesday's meeting at Cheong Wa Dae was also attended by Suh and the ministers of foreign affairs, unification and defense.

bdk@yna.co.kr

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