Trump, Moon discuss stronger alliance and North Korea threats in first face-to-face chat

In their first face-to-face meeting on Thursday (29 June), US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, discussed North Korea and stronger Washington-Seoul ties amid rising tensions in the Korean peninsula.

The two leaders and their delegations are due to discuss the same issues at length when they meet for official talks on Friday.

"The leaders of the two countries agreed to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and ensure the countries' economic development based on a strong Korea-US alliance," Yoon Young-chan, the chief press secretary of South Korea's presidential office, said of the informal dinner meeting of the two leaders in the White House.

"Discussions between the two heads of state were very frank and serious, and many issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula were discussed," he added, according to Yonhap news agency.

Trump too confirmed that North Korea was discussed during the dinner meeting. "Just finished a very good meeting with the President of South Korea. Many subjects discussed including North Korea and new trade deal!"

Addressing Moon during the dinner, Trump congratulated him on his election victory and said he was confident of Moon's victory. "We very much respect you and we very much respect the people of South Korea," he added.

Regarding upcoming discussions, the US president said: "And we're going to have tremendous discussions tonight. I know you've been discussing with our people some of the complexities of North Korea and trade and other things, and we'll be discussing them all as we progress -- and it could be very well late into the evening."

The dinner reportedly lasted until 7.50pm local time (BST), but talks continued for another 15 minutes.

In a first for any foreign leader, Trump reportedly invited Moon to a private space located on the third floor of the White House.

The meeting between the two allies is taking place amid heightened tensions in the Korean peninsula following repeated missile tests conducted by the North Korean regime. The tests prompted the Trump administration to deploy a strike group in the peninsula and install the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile defence system in South Korea.