Top diplomats of South Korea and the US vowed close coordination during phone conversations Monday, a day before South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke over the phone on two occasions to discuss the summit preparations and recent progress in inter-Korean relations, according to the Foreign Ministry.

According to press releases by the ministry, Pompeo reaffirmed their shared efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and establish a peace regime, and expressed his hope for a successful inter-Korean summit.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement the top diplomats agreed to maintain close coordination in efforts to dismantle the North’s nuclear weapons program and continue inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation.

Both sides affirmed the strength of the US-South Korea alliance and the importance of maintaining “pressure” until the shared goal of “final, fully, verified denuclearization of North Korea” is achieved, the statement added.

Despite ongoing engagement with North Korea, the US said that it will maintain sanctions against the North. South Korea supports the sanctions regime, though it is pushing to boost inter-Korean exchanges.

The third meeting between Moon and Kim comes amid a deadlock in North Korea-US talks to follow up on their first summit during which the North Korean leader promised to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The North has demanded the US agree to declare an end to the war first as a measure to guarantee the regime security, while the US wants the North to take concrete steps to denuclearize first.

In what analysts say is a sign of Moon’s willingness to facilitate stalled talks, Foreign Minister Kang was included in the delegation to Pyongyang. She is the first foreign minister of South Korea to visit North Korea.

Inter-Korean relations have been viewed as “special relations tentatively formed in the process of pursuing unification” in accordance with the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement in 1991, not as state-to-state relations, which is why foreign ministers did not accompany presidents to North Korea at previous summits.

Kang was expected to meet with her North Korea counterpart in Pyongyang, six weeks after their encounter at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore.

“I hope that it (the inter-Korean summit) can become an opportunity to seek a breakthrough to advance the denuclearization talks between North Korea and the US,” Kang said on her first visit to Pyongyang, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesman Noh Kyu-duk.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)