S Korean President May Encourage Kim to Negotiate With US - Reports

TOKYO (Sputnik) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in may help advance talks between Washington and Pyongyang by acting as a mediator during his visit to North Korea for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in fall, the Yonhap News Agency reported citing an official from the presidential office.

"I believe President Moon's role has only become greater… Objectively, [Moon's] role as a facilitator and mediator to help expand the range of mutual understanding between the US and North Korea has become greater," the official was quoted by the media.

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The summit is expected to take place in Pyongyang around September 12-13.

The upcoming event will be the third meeting held between Moon and Kim in 2018, after they first met on April 27 and then on May 26, before the US-North Korean summit.

In June, US President Donald Trump and Kim met despite the tense relations between the two leaders and agreed to work toward "a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was supposed to travel to North Korea next week, however, on Friday, the US president announced that he told the official to cancel the trip.