(LEAD) Moon likely to meet political party chiefs this month: source

All News 13:53 March 05, 2019

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES with reports of official statement from presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, minor edits in paras 4-7)

SEOUL, March 5 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in may be considering meeting with political leaders this month to share the outcome of the recent summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea, and discuss pending political issues, party sources said Tuesday.

Moon may invite the chiefs of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and four opposition parties to his office Cheong Wa Dae sometime after his visit to three Southeast Asian countries next week, they added.

The meeting may be held after March 18 as Moon plans to leave for a seven-day trip to Brunei, Malaysia and Cambodia on Sunday.

Cheong Wa Dae denied any immediate plans to hold such a meeting.

"Nothing has been planned as of now in regard to a meeting with ruling and opposition party leaders," Cheong Wa Dae vice spokeswoman Ko Min-jung told reporters.

Still, the president has often invited political leaders for a meeting following his overseas trips or important events, such as inter-Korean summits, to explain their outcome.

If held, the next meeting is expected to deal with Seoul's measures to advance the nuclear talks following the breakdown of last week's summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Trump and Kim ended their nuclear summit in Hanoi without any agreement as they differed on the scope of denuclearization and sanctions relief.

Moon and the political chiefs are also expected to discuss tangled political issues, such as electoral reforms, in an effort to promote their joint governance.

The meeting, if held, will be the first gathering of its kind since March 2018. Moon would also have his first meeting with Hwang Kyo-ahn, newly elected chief of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.

The conservative party recently picked Hwang, the former prime minister who worked under scandal-hit President Park Geun-hye, as its new leader.