Our top story this morning...
President Moon Jae-in has just arrived in the United States for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
North Korea is expected to dominate the majority of their discussions.
Shin Se-min reports.
Different time; similar circumstances.
The expectation is President Moon's latest trip to the White House will be similar to his last when the South Korean leader took the role of "mediator," providing fresh momentum for nuclear talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.
President Moon is back in the U.S. capitol for another crisis management session with Trump -- this time seeking to find a way for the U.S. and North Korea to give and take to achieve their stated goals of making a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula a reality.
During his brief stay in Washington,.. President Moon will also sit down separately with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence,... all of whom -- like President Trump -- are strong proponents of North Korea's FFVD,... meaning the regime's final, fully and verified denuclearization.
For Presidents Moon and Trump,... their summit is the fulfilment of a promise made by President Trump shortly after the second North Korea-U.S. summit collapsed in February.
Trump's decision to pull the plug on that summit dealt a huge blow to President Moon who had staked enormous political capital on it being a success.
It's also a chance to reaffirm the strength of their alliance despite some mixed messages since the Hanoi summit,.. and perhaps time to find middle ground between Trump's 'all-or-nothing' strategy and Kim's 'small-deal' approach.
It remains to be seen if President Trump will be tempted by Seoul's proposal of North Korea steadily abandoning its nuclear weapons while the U.S. slowly eases sanctions as part of a gradual process towards complete denuclearization.
President Moon has said all along that he's on the "same page" as his American counterpart on the need to reach the 'end-state' of denuclearization.
"It's hoped President Moon's trip to Washington will set off a domino effect of rapid-fire summits between the relevant parties.
The Moon-Trump summit could be the spark for yet another inter-Korean summit and possibly even a third summit between leaders Kim Jong-un and President Trump,... taking the peninsula a few steps closer to a complete denuclearization deal.
Shin Se-min, Arirang News."