S. Korea vows to coordinate with U.S. for early resumption of nuke talks with N.K.

SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign ministry said Saturday it will continue to coordinate with the United States to help encourage Washington to resume long-stalled denuclearization talks with Pyongyang at an early date.

The U.S. said Friday it will not seek a "grand bargain" in its denuclearization negotiations with North Korea, but will continue to engage with Pyongyang to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, as the Biden administration has wrapped up its North Korea policy review.

"South Korea and the U.S. will continue consultations over the North Korea policy on the occasion of their leaders' summit scheduled for this month and meetings of their foreign ministers," said an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The official said South Korea has received in advance detailed explanations by the U.S. over the outcome of the North Korea policy review.

President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden will hold their first summit talks in Washington on May 21 to discuss North Korea's nuclear issue and ways to strengthen Seoul-Washington alliances.

The talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear and missile programs have stalled since the second summit between former U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fell through in February 2019.

The two sides were far apart over the scope of Washington's sanctions relief in exchange for the North's denuclearization steps. Trump held three meetings with Kim, including their historic first summit in Singapore in June 2018.
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