Biden, South Korea's Moon to meet in late May - statement

SEOUL, South Korea - US President Joe Biden will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a summit in late May, a statement from Moon's office said on Friday.

The two leaders will discuss ways to develop the strong bilateral alliance between their countries and close cooperation to "achieve complete denuclearization and lasting peace" on the Korean peninsula, the statement from Moon's spokesman Kang Min-seok said.

The statement comes a day before Biden is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Washington.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

The Biden administration says it is in the final stages of a review of its policy towards North Korea and is keen to encourage trilateral cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo on that issue and other regional security concerns, including China.

Marc Knapper, the senior official for Japan and Korea at the US State Department, told an event at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies on Thursday that the summit with Suga would include discussion of North Korea's nuclear missile program, which threatens all three countries.

North Korea has rejected unilateral disarmament and given no indication that it is willing to go beyond statements of broad support for the concept of universal denuclearization. -- Reuters