President Moon to attend G20 summit in Argentina

Published : Nov 20, 2018 - 15:02 Updated : Nov 20, 2018 - 15:20

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will travel to Argentina next week to take part in the annual Group of 20 summit, his office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.

The president will leave the country on Tuesday to first visit the Czech Republic. He will head to Buenos Aires on Nov. 29 for the

G20 summit slated to be held Nov. 30-Dec. 1, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom. Moon will then make a three-day state visit to New Zealand from Dec. 2.

(Yonhap)

"While taking part in the G20 summit, the president will hold bilateral summits with other heads of state. Also with President Mauricio Macri of Argentina, President Moon will hold the first South Korea-Argentina summit in 14 years," the spokesman said.

The spokesman said Moon's bilateral summits in Argentina may include a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

"A bilateral summit with President Trump is currently being discussed with the US government," he told a press briefing.

A Moon-Trump summit, if held, will be the second of its kind in about three months. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September, shortly after the South Korean president made his first-ever trip to Pyongyang for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

US top officials said Trump is likely to hold his second bilateral summit with Kim next year.

"(A Moon-Trump summit) has not been finalized, but I believe (President Moon) will deliver our government's position to President Trump, who is preparing for a US-North Korea summit as the US government says the (US-North Korea) summit will be held in January," the spokesman said.

During his trip to New Zealand, Moon will hold a summit with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and a meeting with Governor-General Patsy Reddy, the spokesman said. (Yonhap)