S. Korean president to visit Washington ahead of Trump-Kim meeting: White House

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump will welcome his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in here on May 22, ahead of the scheduled meeting between Trump and the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un, said the White House Friday.

The two leaders will discuss Trump's upcoming meeting with Kim, it said in a statement.

Moon's trip followed his ice-breaking talks with Kim on April 27, after which Seoul and Pyongyang confirmed in a joint declaration a common goal of complete denuclearization.

Trump is to meet with Kim in May or early June. He told reporters on Friday that the date and venue of the first-ever U.S.-DPRK summit had already been set and will be announced "soon."

Also on Friday, U.S. National Security adviser John Bolton met here with Chung Eui-yong, visiting top national security adviser to Moon.

Chung provided Bolton with a detailed readout of the Moon-Kim meeting, said the White House in another statement.

The pair also reaffirmed that there are no plans to change the bilateral defense posture in South Korea.

Earlier in the day, Bolton rebuked a New York Times article which reported that Trump was looking for options to scale back the number of U.S. troops in South Korea, calling it "utter nonsense." Enditem