Blue House confirms Friday’s meeting between Trump and Moon

President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump will hold a summit meeting in Buenos Aires on Friday, Seoul’s presidential office confirmed.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, the meeting has been set for 3:15 p.m. Friday, Buenos Aires time (3.15 a.m. Saturday in Korean time). 

According to Cheong Wa Dae, the two leaders will focus on discussing how to increase cooperation on denuclearization, and to strengthen the South Korea-US alliance.

The meeting’s agenda will be similar to that of Moon’s recent meeting US Vice President Mike Pence.

In the meeting with Pence, held on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Singapore earlier this month, Moon stressed the need for cooperation between the allies, while Pence requested Moon to play a bigger role in Pyongyang-Washington communications, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

A high-level Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters that Seoul and Washington had difficulty finalizing the time of the meeting due to differences in the preferred time. The US initially suggested holding the meeting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, while Seoul suggested Friday.

With the announcement of the summit time being delayed, rumors had circulated that the meeting had been canceled.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)