26 June 2017

News Story: Upcoming summit to set tone of alliance under new S. Korean, U.S. leaders

SEOUL, June 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in is set to meet his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump this week with the meeting expected to set the tone for the future of the alliance amid escalating North Korean threats and growing geopolitical uncertainties.

The new South Korean president will hold the two-day talks in Washington on Thursday and Friday (U.S. time). He will head for the United States on Wednesday for his first-ever summit with a foreign leader.

Their meeting will likely entail somewhat painstaking discussions on many urgent issues, such as North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile capabilities and the currently suspended deployment of the U.S. missile shield to South Korea.

However, officials from South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae note the most important and urgent issue, if not an outcome, of the summit may be for the two leaders of the allied countries to "hit it off."

   "The alliance has always remained strong, but we still have seen the alliance affected by the personal relationship between the countries' leaders," a Cheong Wa Dae official said, asking not to be identified.

Read the full story at YonhapNews