South Korea’s Moon Says Ready for a New Summit With Kim Jong Un

Speaking Monday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in says that he is fully ready to hold his four summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and that he hopes to salvage the nuclear negotiations between the US and North Korea.

Moon is eager to try to save last year’s diplomatic progress, which looks to be crumbling following the failed Hanoi Summit. Kim has warned the US needs to show a different approach by year’s end, and accused Moon of being an “overstepping mediator” and acting as a facilitator for the US.

Since Moon has made effectively all the direct progress he can in inter-Korean relations, at least without US permission, his talks with Kim hinge heavily on selling both Kim and the US to make further progress.

Since Moon has already met with Trump his month, he likely doesn’t have a lot of options for convincing the US to make any moves to advance diplomacy, and likely feels that talking with Kim is the best thing he can do for the time being.