By Park Gil-ja and Yoon Sojung

President Moon Jae-in held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 20, one day before his visit to the U.S. for the Seoul-Washington summit. The two leaders discussed recent announcements from Pyeongyang.

Presidential Senior Secretary for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan said in a written brief that day that, “The two leaders had a telephone call for 20 minutes starting at 11:30 a.m. and agreed to closely cooperate on the success of the U.S.-North Korea summit and the upcoming Seoul-Washington summit in an unwavering manner.”

“Both leaders exchanged their views on the various reactions that North Korea has been showing recently,” said the presidential senior secretary.

This is now the 15th telephone conversation between President Moon and his U.S. counterpart. The most recent phone call between them took place on May 9 when U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo returned to the U.S. with three U.S. citizens who had been detained in North Korea.

President Moon will depart for Washington on May 21 to hold a summit with President Trump at the White House on May 22, and return to Korea on May 24.

The upcoming Seoul-Washington summit will be the fifth meeting between the two leaders since President Moon took office.

krun@korea.kr