OSAKA, Japan -- Having engaged in a brisk round of high-profile bilateral and multilateral summit diplomacy in Osaka, South Korean President Moon Jae-in headed back to Seoul on Saturday. 

He will have no time to rest this weekend, however, as he will immediately greet US President Donald Trump and hold bilateral talks.

 

Trump's two-day visit to South Korea, his first since November 2017, is widely seen as another crucial event for the slow-going Korea peace process.

It comes amid high expectations for the resumption of Washington-Pyongyang negotiations, probably on a summit level once again.

Sitting down with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few hours before departure, Moon expected Trump's upcoming Korea trip to serve as a "chance for reviving the momentum of the North Korea-US dialogue under coordination between South Korea and the US, and spurring the Korean Peninsula peace process," according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson, Ko Min-jung.

Trudeau reaffirmed his country's support for the peace efforts.

Moon used this week's G-20 summit to highlight his vision for regional peace and the group's role in addressing global trade disputes and other challenges.

He also had bilateral summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of the G-20, as well as Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Xi and Putin conveyed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's "unchanged" denuclearization commitment, sharing the results of their own recent one-on-one talks with Kim, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

Moon, however, had no bilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, the host of the G-20 event, amid continued diplomatic rifts over their countries' shared history.

Moon shook hands with Abe for eight seconds in the official welcoming ceremony Friday.

(Yonhap)