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South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks on the phone with US President Joe Biden at the Blue House on the morning of Feb. 4. (provided by the Blue House)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will be having his first summit with US President Joe Biden during a visit to Washington toward the end of May.

The first in-person meeting between the two leaders is to come a little over four months after Biden took office on Jan. 20.

In a written briefing on the evening Thursday, Blue House spokesperson Kang Min-seok said, “President Moon is scheduled to have a South Korea-US summit while visiting Washington in the second half of May at the invitation of US President Biden.”

The specific schedule appears likely to be decided based on the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During this summit, the two leaders are expected to have in-depth discussions on plans for close cooperation for the continued development of a robust South Korea-US alliance and progress with the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and establishment of permanent peace,” Kang said.

In their first telephone conversation on Feb. 4, Moon and Biden agreed to “work together on developing a comprehensive strategy on North Korea as quickly as possible.” At the time, the Blue House said they had “agreed to hold a South Korea-US summit once the COVID-19 situation subsides.”

But while the Blue House continued to push for an in-person summit, it reportedly became difficult to nail down a schedule due to developments with the pandemic.

After a meeting of South Korean, US and Japanese national security office directors in the US early April, Blue House National Security Office Director Suh Hoon said there had been “discussions on holding a South Korea-US summit as soon as possible.”

During the summit, Moon appears likely to share views with Biden on the Korean Peninsula peace process, including dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington. Other issues expected to be on the agenda include semiconductor supply chain expansions and other areas of common interest between the two sides, as well as responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

The Blue House said it was continuing efforts to coordinate the exact schedule for Moon’s US visit.

By Lee Wan, staff reporter

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