Moon to hold one-on-one summit with Putin

Published : Nov 14, 2018 - 10:19 Updated : Nov 14, 2018 - 10:19

SINGAPORE -- President Moon Jae-in was set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a regional summit in Singapore on Wednesday, with North Korea's denuclearization process expected to be a key topic.

The meeting, their fourth since Moon took office last year, comes days after high-level denuclearization negotiations between the United States and the North were abruptly called off at the last minute last week.

In Wednesday's meeting, Moon and Putin are expected to discuss ways to get the denuclearization talks restarted at an early date, as well as measures to further strengthen relations between the two countries.

The two leaders last met in June when Moon made a state visit to Russia.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (left) and Russian President Vladmir Putin during summit, June 22, 2018 (Yonhap)

Moon arrived in Singapore on Tuesday to attend a trio of annual summits hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- a Korea-ASEAN summit, an ASEAN Plus Three summit also involving China and Japan, and the broader East Asia Summit.

During the Korea-ASEAN summit scheduled for Wednesday, Moon plans to propose holding a special Korea-ASEAN summit next year to further solidify relations with the Southeast Asian nations under his "new southward policy." Moon also plans to host a separate summit between Korea and the Mekong River countries of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.

He was also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of Brunei and Laos.

Singapore is the first leg of Moon's six-day trip that will also take him to Papua New Guinea on Saturday and Sunday for this year's summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum involving Pacific Rim nations. (Yonhap)