ⓒKBS News

Ahead of next week's inter-Korean summit, President Moon Jae-in has pledged to take an active role to break the standstill in the nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea. 

Moon assessed the current impasse during a luncheon on Thursday with a group of elders advising the inter-Korean summit preparations committee.

He explained the North believes the suspension of the South Korea-U.S. joint military drills is not as correspondingly irreversible as the regime's demolition of its nuclear test site, adding that it's the South Korean government's role to find a breakthrough.

Noting North Korea has already abandoned its future prospects for advancing its nuclear weapons program, Moon said Pyongyang's next step is giving up its nuclear materials and facilities, but before that happens, the regime wants a security guarantee from the U.S.

Moon will embark on a three-day trip to Pyongyang next Tuesday his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. 

He said the inter-Korean talks will also focus on ways to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.