With the second North Korea-U.S. summit having ended without a joint statement,... South Korea, as it has been doing for the past year,... is once again taking up the mediator role.
Lee Ji-won has more.
South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, Lee Do-hoon left for Washington early Tuesday to meet his U.S. counterpart Stephen Biegun and discuss the next steps for negotiations with North Korea.

Seoul's foreign ministry says, the two nuclear envoys will share their assessments of the outcome of the Hanoi summit, and discuss ways to quickly resume negotiations.

This is seen as part of South Korea's efforts to mediate the negotiations between North Korea and the U.S.,... after their leaders failed to come to an agreement in their 2nd summit last week.

And Seoul has said it will work to provide various ways for Pyeongyang and Washington to resume their talks.

At the National Security Council meeting, presided by President Moon Jae-in on Monday,... Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the ministry will work on a 1-point-5 track channel of experts and officials,... following the experience of being involved in three-way talks in Sweden a few weeks ago.

She added the contention between the two sides has now become clear -- Yeongbyeon plus additional measures against sanctions alleviation.
And since the joint liaison office and declaration to end the Korean War have practically been agreed by the two sides, Kang says Pyeongyang and Washington's future talks will only need to focus on the aforementioned issue.

With nuclear envoy Lee meeting with various U.S. officials during his three day visit to Washington,... there are high expectations that this could lead to a sitdown between Minister Kang and Secretary of State Pompeo or even between their leaders in an effort to maintain the momentum for dialogue.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.