And on Sunday, the U.S. State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led that American delegation, an American official told Reuters.

In Kim and Moon's first, upbeat meeting on April 27, they agreed to seek the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula - but didn't define what that meant, or how that would proceed.

Since then, North Korea has rejected U.S. demands for it to unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons program that experts say could threaten the United States.

Pyongyang also demanded the United States halt future joint military drills with South Korea if it truly wishes for talks with North Korea, the North's Rodong Sinmun said on Tuesday. In response to reporters' questions regarding the report, South Korea's defense ministry said it does not have plans to change joint exercise schedules with the United States military.

Analysts believe Washington is trying to determine whether North Korea is willing to agree on sufficient steps toward denuclearization to allow a summit to take place.

North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programs as a deterrent against perceived aggression by the United States, which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

It has long said it is open to eventually giving up its nuclear arsenal if the United States withdraws its troops from South Korea and ends its "nuclear umbrella" alliance with Seoul.



buyusacigarettes.com