WASHINGTON (Reuters) - South Korea’s national security adviser was in Washington on Wednesday for his first meeting with his new American counterpart, John Bolton, U.S. officials said, amid preparations for separate U.S. and South Korean summits with North Korea.

Chung Eui-yong, who is due to see Bolton on Thursday, led the South Korean delegation that met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month and then traveled to the United States to convey to President Donald Trump a summit invitation from Kim.

Trump accepted. He said on Monday that he planned to meet Kim in May or early June and hoped the discussions would ultimately lead to an end of the North’s nuclear weapons program.

A White House official confirmed Chung’s planned meeting with Bolton. The South Korean embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

South Korean officials are wary about Trump’s appointment of Bolton, known for his hawkish views, to replace H.R. McMaster as U.S. national security adviser.

Bolton, a 69-year-old former Fox News analyst and ex-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who took up his new post on Monday, has in the past called for regime change in North Korea and has previously been rejected as a negotiating partner by Pyongyang.

Bolton said last month after he was named to his new role that the United States must use the summit to “cut to the chase” on the denuclearization issue and accused Pyongyang of seeking to “buy more time” through talks with the United States to develop its nuclear weapons.

Japanese national security adviser Shotaro Yachi was also expected to visit Washington to meet Bolton ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s talks with Trump next week, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said. A spokesman at the Japanese embassy said he could not confirm this. </s> SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's national security adviser has flown to Washington to meet his newly appointed US counterpart John Bolton, an official said on Thursday (Apr 12) in Seoul, where concerns are growing over the American's hardline stance on the nuclear-armed North.

Mr Chung Eui Yong, who personally delivered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's summit offer to US President Donald Trump last month, returned to the US capital unannounced on Wednesday.

The two allies and are planning their upcoming summits with Mr Kim separately.

Mr Chung is due to meet Mr Bolton on Thursday, the official at the South's presidential Blue House told reporters.

He added that the meeting was a courtesy call aimed at "coordinating opinions ahead of the inter-Korean and US-North Korea summits".

The rare inter-Korean summit is scheduled to take place in just over two weeks, while the second meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Kim is expected as early as May.

The appointment this week of Mr Bolton - a former United Nations ambassador and strong defender of a US first-strike option against North Korea - has raised concerns in Seoul over the prospects of the diplomatic thaw on the Korean peninsula.

Mr Bolton's stance on Pyongyang diverges sharply from the more dovish South Korean government, which had pushed hard for an early meeting with him, the South's Yonhap agency reported.

"Bolton does not even mention the possibility of a peace treaty with Pyongyang" which is sought by the South, said Professor Koo Kab Woo at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"If Bolton intervenes in the current diplomatic process (with North Korea), the need for coordination becomes much bigger," Prof Koo added.

In a growing rapprochement on the Korean peninsula kickstarted by the South's Winter Olympics, Mr Kim is set to meet South Korean President Moon Jae In on Apr 27.

Mr Trump has agreed to meet Mr Kim to discuss denuclearisation as soon as next month, though no venue or specific date is agreed.

The South Korean embassy in Washington and the US State Department have agreed to set up a hotline in the build-up to the summits, Yonhap reported.

The South's presidential office is also set to launch a new situation room to monitor the preparations for its upcoming summit on a daily basis, it said on Thursday. </s> SEOUL (REUTERS) - The top national security advisors of United States, South Korea and Japan met to discuss North Korea and the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", South Korea's Blue House said on Monday (March 19).

South Korea's National Security Office chief Chung Eui Yong met US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Japan's National Security Adviser Shotaro Yachi on March 17-18 to discuss future meetings between North Korea's Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae In, as well as between Mr Kim and US President Trump, the Blue House said in a statement.

The people in attendance agreed that "it was important to not repeat the mistakes of the past" and agreed to work closely for the coming weeks, the Blue House said. </s> Washington: US President Donald Trump has named former ambassador and Fox News analyst John Bolton as his new National Security Adviser replacing Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, media reports said.

The President announced the news in a tweet on Thursday, saying that Bolton would take the job starting April 9, making him Trump’s third National Security Adviser in the first 14 months of his presidency, reports The Washington Post. “I (am) pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job and will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/19,” he tweeted.

Bolton’s appointment does not require Senate confirmation. Following Trum’s tweet, McMaster said in a statement released by the White House: “After 34 years of service to our nation, I am requesting retirement from the US Army effective this summer after which I will leave public service… I am thankful to President Donald Trump for the opportunity to serve him and our nation as National Security Adviser.”

Trump and Bolton have been discussing for weeks how he could replace McMaster, CNN quoted an informed source as saying. Shortly after the news broke, Bolton said on Fox News that he was not expecting an announcement to be made Thursday afternoon. According to the source, Trump and Bolton had met earlier on Thursday.

Bolton’s hard edged, hawkish views on issues like North Korea, Iraq and Syria make him a controversial pick especially ahead of a proposed meeting between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. Bolton is a fierce North Korea hawk who, in his prolific writings and television commentary, has said that pre-emptive war would likely be the only way to stop North Korea from obtaining the capability to attack the US with a nuclear missile, reports The Washington Post.

Bolton had touted “the legal case for striking North Korea first” in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. However, Bolton, who had dismissed negotiations with North Korea as a waste of time, moderated his views slightly after Trump announced he would sit down with Kim, suggesting that the encounter between the two leaders would be short and largely devoid of traditional diplomacy.

Regarding Iran, Bolton told Fox News in January that Trump should dump the nuclear deal, re-impose economic sanctions on Tehran and work toward an overthrow of the government there. Bolton had previously served in the George W. Bush administration in a key arms-control job. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A South Korean delegation on Thursday hand-delivered a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the White House for U.S. President Donald Trump, CNN reported, citing an unnamed foreign diplomatic source.

Reuters could not independently confirm the report.

South Korea’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, will make an announcement on North Korea in the White House briefing room at 7 p.m. EST on Thursday (0000 GMT), White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. </s> SEOUL: The top national security advisers of the United States, South Korea and Japan met at the weekend to discuss North Korea and the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", South Korea's presidential Blue House said on Monday (Mar 19).

The two days of meetings could also help prepare the way for a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

They were the latest in a flurry of diplomatic activity spanning Asia, the United States and Europe ahead of North Korea's planned summits with the South and the United States.

South Korea's National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong met US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Japan's National Security Adviser Shotaro Yachi to discuss summit meetings between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the Blue House in Seoul said.

They also discussed the possible meeting between Trump and Kim, it said.

The security advisers from the three countries discussed the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", agreed that "it was important to not repeat the mistakes of the past" and to work together closely, the Blue House said.

A senior North Korean diplomat left for Finland on Sunday for talks with former U.S. and South Korean officials, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

That followed three days of talks between North Korean and Swedish foreign ministers on security on the Korean peninsula.

Sweden "engaged heavily" on the issue of US detainees during the talks between North Korean and Swedish foreign ministers, CNN reported on Sunday, citing unidentified sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

North Korea is pursuing its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the US mainland. </s> "National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster of the United States, National Security Office Director Chung Eui-yong of the Republic of Korea, and Secretary General of the National Security Secretariat Shotaro Yachi of Japan held a trilateral meeting on March 17 and 18 in San Francisco to discuss the permanent denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the planned inter-Korean summit and United States-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea summit," the release said.

On March 5-6, a high-ranking South Korean delegation visited North Korea for talks with Kim Jong-un. South Korean diplomats later delivered a message from Kim Jong-un to Donald Trump, in which the former expressed his willingness to hold direct talks. Trump accepted the invitation to meet with Kim by the end of May. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — New national security adviser John Bolton is taking the helm of the National Security Council at a time of tumult on President Donald Trump's team and with a long to-do list awaiting him.

The U.S. military is bracing for a possible strike in Syria. Preparations for a high-risk North Korea summit are barreling forward. The White House staff is on edge, unsure who will be fired next. And the national security team is holding its breath to see whether their new leader will be a shock to the system.

Bolton's first day was Monday. He appeared at his first Cabinet meeting, where Trump discussed hot-spots like Syria, North Korea and China. Bolton didn't speak, but was seated prominently behind Trump as reporters were briefly allowed into the meeting. </s> The top national security advisers of the United States, South Korea and Japan met at the weekend to discuss North Korea and the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said on Monday.

The two days of meetings could also help prepare the way for a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

They were the latest in a flurry of diplomatic activity spanning Asia, the United States and Europe ahead of North Korea’s planned summits with the South and the United States.

South Korea’s National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong met US National Security Adviser HR McMaster and Japan’s National Security Adviser Shotaro Yachi to discuss summit meetings between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the Blue House in Seoul said.

They also discussed the possible meeting between Trump and Kim, it said.

The security advisers from the three countries discussed the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, agreed that “it was important to not repeat the mistakes of the past” and to work together closely, the Blue House said.

A senior North Korean diplomat left for Finland on Sunday for talks with former U.S. and South Korean officials, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

That followed three days of talks between North Korean and Swedish foreign ministers on security on the Korean peninsula.

Sweden “engaged heavily” on the issue of US detainees during the talks between North Korean and Swedish foreign ministers, CNN reported on Sunday, citing unidentified sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

North Korea is pursuing its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

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South Korea national security adviser Chung Eui-yong visits Washington, D.C. and meets with his U.S. counterpart John R. Bolton.