President Moon Jae-in is meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in Singapore and their meeting comes as North Korea and the U.S. are in a stalemate in their denuclearization negotiations.<br />We connect to our Blue House correspondent Hwang Hojun on the phone for more details.<br />Hojun, what are we hearing so far?.<br /><br />Ji-yoon, So as we speak right now, President Moon and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence are meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related meetings in Singapore.<br />According to the Blue House, the main objective is for them to discuss measures to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula as well as ways to build on South Korea-U.S. relations.<br />Of course, the big question is will President Moon be able to kickstart North Korea's denuclearization process, which has ground to a halt in recent weeks,... and rekindle talks between Pyeongyang and Washington.<br />It was just last week when planned high-level talks in New York between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his North Korean counterpart Kim Yong-chol were canceled at the last minute.<br />The chasm seems to have widen even further as Pence wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post last week saying the U.S. will continue to quote "exert unprecedented diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea",... not to mention a report by the Center for Strategic International Studies on Monday, revealing at least 13 of an estimated 20 undeclared missile operating bases in the North. <br />Even South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, confirmed usual levels of activities there.<br />The Blue House has insisted that ongoing negotiations with North Korea are therefore necessary to halt such activities and realize the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.<br />Which is why the meeting today,... the first high-level, face-to-face talks between Seoul and Washington since the recent diplomatic clash,... is garnering great focus around the world.<br />We'll bring you more details in our later newscasts.<br />Jiyoon. <br />
