With the inter-Korean summit now exactly two weeks away,... South Korea's top security advisor Chung Eui-yong has been holding talks in Washington with his U.S. counterpart John Bolton.
The allies are looking to closely coordinate their strategies to squeeze the best result out of their respective summits with Pyongyang.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
Thursday's meeting at the White House was Chung Eui-yong's first with John Bolton since the U.S. National Security Adviser took office,... and his second in the past month,... as he traveled to Washington in March,... shortly after his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.
According to a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council,... Chung and Bolton committed to continue coordinating closely in preparation for their summits with North Korea.
This comes as Seoul expressed its desire to establish a direct communication channel between Chung and Bolton to closely sync the allies' preparations for their respective meetings with Kim Jong-un.
Chung stressed the importance of his meeting with Bolton before departing for Seoul.
"The success of both the inter-Korean summit and the North Korea-U.S. summit is important, so we had a wide-ranging exchange of views on various ways to make them a success and peacefully achieve denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
President Trump's appointment of Bolton -- a well-known hawk -- has raised concerns in Seoul that the U.S. could consider military action against the North if the Trump-Kim summit goes badly.
Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN, recently argued for a preventive strike on North Korea,... even though he stressed that it's not his favored option.
Bolton is reported to have also met on Thursday with his Japanese counterpart Shotaro Yachi.
Meanwhile, Cho Yoon-je, the South Korean ambassador to the U.S.,... and Susan Thornton, acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia plan to hold regular summit-related meetings from next week.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.
