SOUTH KOREAN President Moon Jae-in was pushing to meet U.S. President Donald Trump around mid-May before a summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), local media reported yesterday.

An unnamed senior Blue House official of South Korea told local reporters that the South Korea-U.S. summit would be held around mid-May, though the exact date of Moon’s visit to the United States had yet to be finalized.

Moon and Kim are scheduled to meet tomorrow at the border village of Panmunjom in what would be the third-ever inter-Korean summit. It is forecast to be followed in late May or early June by the Trump-Kim summit, the first-ever DPRK-U.S. meeting of leaders.

Moon is expected to coordinate with Trump on the results of his summit meeting with Kim to help make the DPRK-U.S. summit successful.

The South Korean leader has said the inter-Korean summit will end up a success only with a successful DPRK-U.S. summit, showing his willingness to play a mediating role between Pyongyang and Washington.

Chung Eui-yong, top national security adviser for Moon, met his U.S. counterpart John Bolton in Washington ahead of the inter-Korean summit, the Blue House said.

Chung and Bolton have finished coordination to prepare for the inter-Korean summit, including close cooperation between Seoul and Washington in achieving the goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. They also discussed situations after the inter-Korean summit.

Chung and Bolton discussed ways to push for the meeting between Moon and Trump before the expected summit between Trump and the DPRK leader.(Xinhua)