The Cheong Wa Dae spokesman was responding to a question about whether Moon's scheduled trip to the North will be aimed at not only removing the apparent stumbling block in denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang but also encouraging the North itself to resume or accelerate its denuclearization process.

The US president earlier called off a scheduled North Korea trip by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing what he called a lack of progress in the North's denuclearization process.

"Because the denuclearization issue is the most important issue in the inter-Korean summit, there is no change to the fact that we will focus our discussions on resolving that issue, regardless of whether Secretary Pompeo visits North Korea or not," the Cheong Wa Dae spokesman said. (Yonhap)