NEW YORK -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in was expected to seek US and international support this week for his drive to put maximum pressure on North Korea, a move aimed at leaving no other option for the impoverished North but to denuclearize.

The new South Korean leader was scheduled to make his debut in the international arena Thursday when he delivers a keynote speech at a UN General Assembly session. He will be the fourth to speak after the leaders of Serbia, Sierra Leone and Haiti, according to Seoul's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae.

Moon was widely expected to call for international efforts to thoroughly implement UN Security Council resolutions on Pyongyang, including one adopted just last week to punish the communist regime for its latest and sixth nuclear test Sept. 3.
 
The liberal South Korean leader earlier stressed the need to resume dialogue with the North to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. He continues to underscore the need to end the nuclear standoff peacefully and fundamentally through dialogue but says now is not the time to engage with the North.

"Dialogue is not possible in a situation like this," the president said in a Sept. 15 meeting of South Korea's National Security Council, hours after the North launched an intermediate range ballistic missile across Japan in its 16th missile provocation this year.

"International sanctions and pressure will further tighten to leave North Korea no choice but to come out to the path to sincere dialogue," he said.

The South Korean leader was also set to discuss bilateral sanctions against the North with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, later in the day.

The two will hold a bilateral summit during which they are widely expected to discuss ways to put additional pressure on the communist North.

They will later be joined by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a three-way summit.

The Moon-Trump summit will mark the second of its kind since both leaders took office earlier in the year. The three-way summit involving the Japanese leader will also mark the second of its kind following a July meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

Moon will head back home later in the day, ending his four-day visit here. (Yonhap)