SEOUL, May 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the United States have agreed to hold a summit meeting in Washington in late June, the presidential Blue House said Tuesday.
Senior presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan told a press briefing that the summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump will be held in late June in the U.S. capital.
Detailed schedule and agenda for the summit will be discussed later through diplomatic channels, Yoon said.
The agreement on the summit was reached at a meeting between Matt Pottinger, a senior director for East Asia at the National Security Council of the White House and Chung Eui-yong, a former South Korean ambassador to Geneva who now leads Moon's security and diplomatic task force.
Pottinger who was leading a U.S. delegation arrived here Monday evening. He paid a courtesy call to President Moon and delivered Trump's congratulations to Moon, according to the Blue House.
He is the first senior White House official visiting South Korea since President Moon was inaugurated last week.
The Blue House said South Korea and the United States agreed to seek a "bold and practical" measure for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.
Moon told Pottinger that he hoped to meet with President Trump soon, expressing his anticipation for a sufficient and close discussion between the two allies.
After visiting the Blue House, Pottinger met with Lee Jeong-kyu, South Korean deputy foreign minister.
Pottinger told reporters outside the foreign ministry building in Seoul that he and Lee discussed a broad range of issues, including the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile interception system.
The senior White House official anticipated that Seoul and Washington will continue to talk about this issue.
On April 26, part of THAAD elements, including two mobile launchers, a radar and other equipments, were secretly transported to a golf course at Soseong-ri village in Seongju county, North Gyeongsang province.
The secret transportation caused strong backlash from residents and peace activists who had stood sentry beside the entrance road to the golf course to block any further deployment of other THAAD elements.
A THAAD battery is composed of six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors, the AN/TPY-2 radar and the fire and control unit.
A special committee of Moon's ruling Democratic Party has announced its plan to push for parliamentary hearings on the THAAD deployment decision to find if there was any illegitimacy and illegality in the decision-making process.
