Three-way summit with DPRK, US possible, Moon says

Moon Jae-in, president of the Republic of Korea, on Wednesday said a trilateral summit with leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United States is possible if the upcoming series of summits make progress.

"A North Korea-US summit would be a historic event in itself following an inter-Korean summit," Moon made the remarks after a preparatory meeting for the inter-Korean summit, adding that the series of summits may lead to "a three-way summit between the South, North and the United States depending on progress".

Through the summits and their subsequent meetings, the ROK should completely resolve issues concerning peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, Moon said.

Moon said he has a "clear goal and vision", which is for the establishment of a lasting peace to replace the cease-fire signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

It also includes the normalization of DPRK-US relations, the development of inter-Korean ties, and economic cooperation involving Pyongyang and Washington, he said.

"Whether the two neighbors live together or separately, we have to make it in a way that they prosper together and in peace, without interfering or causing damage to each other," Moon said.

The summit between the ROK and the DPRK is set for late April, followed by a proposed summit between the US President Donald Trump and the DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un by the end of May, to achieve a permanent denuclearization.

Yonhap News Agency said that ROK officials are considering the border truce village of Panmunjom, where Moon and Kim are set for a one-day meeting, as the venue for talks between not only Kim and Moon but also the possible three-way meeting.

To prepare for the upcoming summits, the ROK also proposed high-level talks on March 29 at Tongilgak, a DPRK building in the truce village of Panmunjom, the ROK's Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said at a news conference.

The summit preparation committee will lay the groundwork for parliamentary ratification of the agreement, which will be reached during the April summit between Moon and Kim, as well as the agreements already reached in the first and second inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007 each.

The high-level talks will also discuss basic matters for the April inter-Korean summits, such as summit schedules, dialogue agenda and delegations from each side, the spokesman said.

The ROK Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will lead the three-member ROK delegation to the high-level talks. Two other members would be officials from the Blue House and the National Intelligence Service, respectively.

The Blue House official also said earlier on Wednesday that the ROK is in discussion with China and Japan about a three-way summit to be held in Tokyo in early May.

Xinhua and Reuters contributed to the story.