South Korea’s presidential office says President Moon Jae-in has been briefed on Pyongyang’s announcement of its possible plan to suspend denuclearization talks with the United States.
Presidential Spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a media briefing in Phnom Penh on Friday that Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha gave a report to the president in the middle of his summit meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in the Cambodian capital earlier in the day.
He said the presidential National Security Office is in the process of analyzing the North’s announcement through multiple contacts to find out its real intentions and will brief the president again with a more comprehensive report.
The spokesman refused to comment on whether Moon talked or plans to talk with U.S. President Donald Trump over the phone about the issue. He also said Seoul continues to have under-the-table contact with Pyongyang.
Earlier in the day, North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui held an emergency media conference with international reporters in Pyongyang and said her country is considering suspending nuclear negotiations with the U.S.
She said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will issue an official statement in the near future to reveal his plans following the collapse of his second summit with Trump.
Since Thursday, Moon has been on a three-day visit to Cambodia, the last leg of his three-nation tour to Southeast Asia.