Denuclearization to be key agenda for upcoming inter-Korean summit: Blue House

SEOUL - The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be on the key dialogue agenda for the upcoming inter-Korean summit, the Republic of Korea's presidential Blue House said Thursday.

Kim Eui-keum, spokesman for ROK President Moon Jae-in, told a press briefing that the denuclearization had been the most important issue in the past summits among the leaders of the ROK, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States.

President Moon held summits twice with top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un in April and May, respectively, before Kim met US President Donald Trump for the first-ever DPRK-US summit in Singapore in June.

Moon and Kim agreed to hold their third summit in Pyongyang before the end of September.

The Blue House spokesman said the denuclearization would be the most important issue to be intensively discussed during the upcoming inter-Korean summit, noting that it had nothing to do with the cancelled visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the DPRK.

Pompeo was originally scheduled to travel to Pyongyang this week, but it was delayed as Trump asked Pompeo to cancel it citing what he called a lack of progress in the denuclearization talks.

During previous inter-Korean summits this year, the leaders of the two Koreas agreed to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which was confirmed by the leaders of the DPRK and the United States during the Singapore summit.