Seoul: North, South Korean leaders meet to discuss U.S.-North Korean summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have met for the second time in a month on Saturday to discuss carrying out the peace commitments they reached in their first summit and Kim’s potential meeting with President Donald Trump, Moon’s office said. South Korean presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan said Moon will reveal the outcome of his surprise meeting with Kim on Sunday.

The meeting at a border truce village came hours after South Korea expressed relief over revived talks for a summit between Mr. Trump and Kim following a whirlwind 24 hours that saw Mr. Trump cancel the highly anticipated meeting before saying it’s potentially back on.

“We see it as fortunate that the embers of dialogue between North Korea and the United States weren’t fully extinguished and are coming alive again,” Seoul’s presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a statement. “We are carefully watching the developments.”

On Friday, on his way to give the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Mr. Trump said the summit with North Korea “could even be the 12th,” after canceling the summit the day before.

“We’ll see what happens,” Mr. Trump said. “It could even be the 12th. We’re talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We’d like to do it. We’re gonna see what happens.”

He also said in Friday tweet: “We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.”

We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018

South Korea, which brokered the talks between Washington and Pyongyang, was caught off guard by Mr. Trump’s abrupt cancellation of the summit citing hostility in recent North Korean comments. South Korean President Moon Jae-said Mr. Trump’s decision left him “perplexed” and was “very regrettable.” He urged Washington and Pyongyang to resolve their differences through “more direct and closer dialogue between their leaders.”

Moon and Kim held a historic summit in April where they announced vague aspirations for a nuclear-free peninsula and permanent peace, which Seoul has tried to sell as a meaningful breakthrough to set up the summit with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump’s back-and-forth over his summit plans with Kim has exposed the fragility of Seoul as an intermediary. It fanned fears in South Korea that the country may lose its voice between a rival intent on driving a wedge between Washington and Seoul and an American president who thinks less of the traditional alliance with Seoul than his predecessors.

Early this month, North Korea canceled a high-level meeting with Seoul over South Korea’s participation in regular military exercises with the United States and insisted that it will not return to talks unless its grievances are resolved.

Mr. Trump’s decision to pull out of the summit with Kim came just days after he hosted Moon in a White House meeting where he openly cast doubts on the Singapore meeting but offered no support for continued inter-Korean progress, essentially ignoring the North’s recent attempts to coerce the South.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.