Moon to visit New York for talks with Trump, U.N. General Assembly

SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in will travel to New York on Sunday to attend the U.N. General Assembly and hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at breaking the deadlock in denuclearization negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, a senior presidential official said Friday.

The five-day trip comes just three days after Moon returned from a visit to North Korea, where he held his third summit talks with the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, and won Kim's promise to dismantle the country's ICBM testing and launch facilities.

Kim also expressed his willingness to take additional denuclearization steps, such as permanently shutting down the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex, depending on what measures the U.S. will take in return for the North's dismantlement of its missile facilities.

"President Moon will share the results and assessment of the inter-Korean summit in detail while holding in-depth discussions on forms of cooperation to make a breakthrough in the U.S.-North Korea talks," Nam Gwan-pyo, a senior director from the presidential National Security Office, told reporters.

Moon and Trump will also sign a revision to the free trade agreement between the two countries.

Moon plans to use the U.N. General Assembly to drum up international support for his push to make peace with North Korea, Nam said. Moon is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech during the General Assembly and hold a series of one-on-one meetings with other heads of states, such as those from Chile and Spain, on its sidelines.

A meeting with U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres is also scheduled.

"Through this visit, (Moon) will explain in detail the results of the inter-Korean summit, in which the entire world is interested, and promote international awareness of our government's vision and policy aimed at opening up a new era of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula," Nam said.

Moon also plans to express South Korea's intention to contribute to efforts to tackle such global issues as peace, security, human rights, humanitarian aid and climate change, the official said.
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