SEOUL: Top US, South Korean and Japanese officials have discussed how to achieve a complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula ahead of upcoming inter-Korean and US-North Korean summit talks. Seoul has said previously that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to hold summit talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late April. Seoul says Kim proposed meeting with President Donald Trump , and Trump agreed to him by the end of May.The developments have raised hopes for a potential breakthrough in the North Korean nuclear crisis.US National Security Adviser HR McMaster met his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in San Francisco for talks over the weekend on denuclearization and the summit talks.South Korea's presidential office says the three agreed to maintain close trilateral cooperation. </s> South Korea is offering to play the role of mediator between the U.S. and North Korea after Pyongyang threatened to call off a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

A South Korean presidential Blue House official said on Thursday that it plans to “sufficiently convey (to the United States) what we’ve discerned about North Korea’s position and attitude… and sufficiently convey the United States’ position to North Korea,” according to Reuters.

The comments come after North Korea threatened to pull out of the upcoming summit between Trump and Kim after Pyongyang abruptly canceled a meeting with South Korean officials over denuclearization.

North Korea on Tuesday pointed to U.S.-South Korea military drills in cancelling the meeting with officials from Seoul. </s> Seoul [South Korea], May 21 (ANI): The United States and South Korea are working in various ways to resume denuclearisation negotiations with North Korea, said South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul on Tuesday.

"The overall situation shows that we are facing a lull, but I think you should know that we are working in various ways to resume negotiations. South Korea and the US are also sharing the need for keeping the situation under control," he said during a briefing here.

Kim also outlined the importance of providing humanitarian aid to North Korea. "A hungry child knows no politics," he said while quoting former US President Ronald Reagan, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The South Korean official's comment comes as talks regarding denuclearisation have been stalled between the United States and North Korea following the second summit between the two states, which ended abruptly in Vietnam in February earlier this year.

The two sides reportedly failed to resolve their differences on sanctions relief, which led to the summit ending earlier than scheduled. In fact, no joint agreement was issued following the talks.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday highlighted that the "firmness" of the US-South Korea relationship showed in their response to North Korea's recent projectiles launches.

The launches are largely being perceived as a sign of frustration on part of the reclusive state, which has been demanding sanctions relief in exchange for the steps it has taken towards denuclearisation. The United States, meanwhile, has stood firm in its stance of only providing sanctions waivers once complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula is achieved. (ANI) </s> SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — North Korea said Saturday it is willing to have talks with the United States, but that it rejects preconditions and Washington’s demands that it must first demonstrate its willingness to denuclearize.

During the closing ceremony for the recently concluded Olympics in South Korea, the office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced that a North Korean delegate to the Olympics said his country is willing to hold talks with the U.S. President Donald Trump responded by saying talks will happen only “under the right conditions.”

The Trump administration’s position is that North Korea must show a real commitment toward ending its nuclear and missile programs before any talks can take place. The U.S. has applied a series of sanctions in what it says is a “maximum pressure campaign” to force North Korea to disarm.

On Saturday, the spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign ministry said the North would not accept preconditions for talks.

“In decades-long history of the DPRK-U.S. talks, there had been no case at all where we sat with the U.S. on any precondition, and this will be the case in future, too,” the spokesperson said in comments carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. “The U.S. attitude shown after we clarified our intention for DPRK-U.S. dialogue compels us to only think that the U.S. is not interested in resuming the DPRK-U.S. dialogue.”

North Korea is formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“It is the consistent and principled position of the DPRK to resolve issues in a diplomatic and peaceful way through dialogue and negotiation,” the spokesperson said. “The dialogue we desire is the one designed to discuss and resolve the issues of mutual concern on an equal footing between states.” </s> The U.S. has confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is willing to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a Trump administration official said.

This is the first tangible sign that Kim is still willing to meet with President Donald Trump since the North first proposed the summit last month.

Trump has said he wants to meet with Kim before the end of May. Details on the talks are still unclear, including the exact agenda and place.

But U.S. officials have said there have been secret contacts between Washington and Pyongyang.

Trump has consistently called for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

WATCH: Denuclearization

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?In the past, North Korea pledged to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for food aid and easing economic sanctions. Those promises were always broken.

Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at The Center for the National Interest in Washington, says North Korea is going to make some kind of demand just to have the talks take place, and that its demands for agreeing to abandon its nuclear weapons "are going to be astronomically high."

"They could ask for hundreds of billions of dollars in economic aid," Kazianis told VOA. "They could ask for the removal of U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula. They could even ask for say South Korea to get rid of all of its nuclear technology and nuclear reactors." </s> SEOUL, April 8 (UPI) -- South Korea's top office expressed optimism on reports of contact between Washington and Pyongyang, to arrange a summit between their leaders in May.

A senior presidential official told Yonhap Sunday that if direct contact is being initiated between the United States and North Korea, Seoul sees it as a positive signal.

The liberal Moon Jae-in administration has been pushing for dialogue with the North, in efforts to achieve denuclearization as well as the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The official's remarks came after CNN reported that Washington has been holding "secret, direct talks" to prepare for the upcoming summit between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Quoting various U.S. officials, the report said a team at the Central Intelligence Agency, led by its Director Mike Pompeo, has been working through back-channels to make arrangements for the high-profile talks.

According to the report, American officials are said to have spoken several times with their North Korean counterparts, and even met up with them up to three times to discuss preparations.

The U.S. President, last month, told South Korean presidential envoys that he accepted Kim's invitation for talks on denuclearization and would hold the talks in May.

Since then, the North Korean leader has reaffirmed his commitment to discussing denuclearization as well as his willingness to hold summit talks with the South Korean and U.S. presidents.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is continuing to pressure the North regarding its flagrant violations of human rights, the Voice of America reported Sunday.

The U.S. broadcasted quoted Katina Adams, spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, who said Washington will continue to exert pressure on Pyongyang in order to ensure it respects the basic freedom and human rights of its citizens.

She said the U.S. is deeply concerned about the state of North Korean citizens' well-being.

Regarding scepticism in Washington on the possibility of the North dismantling its nukes, Adams said the North Korean leader has asserted his willingness to denuclearize and to refrain from additional nuclear and missile test, and that he understands South Korea-U.S. joint military drills will continue as scheduled. </s> North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States, South Korean President Moon Jae-In said in a statement Sunday.

The South Korean leader said he’d met with the North Korean delegation that’s in Pyeongchang for the closing ceremony of the Winter Games, and told them that North Korea-US talks should happen “as soon as possible.”

Moon said the North Koreans indicated they were willing to talk with the US, and agreed that “the inter-Korean relationship and North Korea-US relationship should develop together.”

Developing story – more to come. </s> "I reiterate our desire for more African nations to apply concrete diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea," Tillerson said. "African nations can contribute to this goal, and we need, country by country, for nations to take action to support this international effort towards a denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

As part of the maximum pressure campaign, the UN Security Council has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The United States has also called on all countries to cut trade and military ties with North Korea.

READ MORE: N Korea Develops Its Weapons Program, 'While We're Not Talking' — Expert

US media has reported that National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster will meet with his South Korean counterparts in Washington, DC on Thursday to discuss recent talks between the North and South.

South Korean media reports said the envoys would hand over a private message to the United States from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

READ MORE: Will North Korea Agree to Drop Its Nuclear Program? Expert Explains

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated drastically last year due to the North's nuclear activity, which led to the UN Security Council imposing its toughest ever sanctions on the country.

In November 2017, North Korea tested its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, which according to Pyongyang, would have been capable of hitting any part of the US mainland.

READ MORE: Professor: 'Denuclearization of Korea Peninsula is Possible Under NK Conditions' </s> North Korea is willing to talk to the United States about denuclearization, a senior U.S. official said Sunday.

These are the first tangible signs that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is still willing to meet with President Donald Trump since the North first proposed the summit last month.

Trump has said he wants to meet with Kim before the end of May. Details on the talks are still unclear, including the exact agenda and place.

But U.S. officials have said there have been secret contacts between Washington and Pyongyang.

Trump has consistently called for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

In the past, North Korea pledged to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for food aid and easing economic sanctions. Those promises were always broken.
South Korea states that North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States on denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.