'Seoul, Washington aligned on end goal on North Korea': Foreign Minister

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo smile after their meeting in Washington D.C., March 29, the first minister-level bilateral diplomatic discussions since the second U.S.-North Korean summit held in Hanoi in February. Yonhap

South Korea and the United States are completely aligned on their end goal when it comes to diplomatic efforts with North Korea, Seoul's top diplomat said Friday after talks with her American counterpart.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha arrived in Washington earlier in the day for her first meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo since the failed summit last month between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

At a press conference after the talks, Kang said the two sides discussed the current situation with North Korea and pending matters between the allies, including the issue of cost-sharing for U.S. troops in South Korea and Seoul's request to extend a waiver for oil imports from Iran.

"Through today's discussions we were able to reaffirm that South Korea and the U.S. are completely aligned on our end goal when it comes to our policy toward North Korea," the minister said.

"The most important thing at this stage, following the North-U.S. summit in Hanoi, is to resume negotiations between North Korea and the U.S.," she added.

The second summit between Trump and Kim broke down due to disagreements over U.S. demands for North Korea's complete denuclearization and North Korean position of a phased disarmament accompanied by significant sanctions relief.

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At the first summit in Singapore in June, the two leaders agreed to "work toward" complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S.

The diplomats' meeting also came less than a day after the two countries announced plans for a summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump on April 11 in Washington.

Moon has brokered the diplomatic efforts between Washington and Pyongyang since last year and held three summits of his own with Kim.

"We agreed that the upcoming summit will allow deep conversations between the leaders on strengthening the alliance and our coordination on the North Korean nuclear issue," Kang said. "We discussed many things regarding the preparations."

Kang said she was aware that there were concerns about a growing rift in the alliance caused by South Korea's push to resume inter-Korean economic projects and the U.S. insistence on maintaining sanctions on the North.

"South Korea and the U.S. have deep and frank discussions on all matters related to the North Korean nuclear issue," she said.

At the start of the meeting, which was open to the press, Pompeo did not respond to a reporter asking whether he was concerned about the alleged restoration of North Korea's long-range rocket launch facility in Dongchang-ri.

The site was partially dismantled in the wake of the Singapore summit and then reportedly rebuilt starting shortly before the Feb. 27-28 summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.

This led to speculation that the regime could be preparing for a missile test. (Yonhap)

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