The presidential office has denied a media report that South Korea proposed a trilateral summit with the two Koreas and the U.S. following the collapse of last month's U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi.

Presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters on Wednesday that Seoul has not made such a proposal and has no plans to do so. 

Quoting a diplomatic source, a local newspaper reported earlier on Wednesday that in order to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, the Seoul government recently proposed the three-way summit to the U.S. but that Washington rejected it. The report said Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha conveyed the idea to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

It also said South Korea's National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong proposed a phased denuclearization of North Korea during telephone talks with his U.S. counterpart John Bolton last Monday. 

However, the presidential spokesman refused to confirm the report, saying that it's hard to disclose details of telephone conversations.