South Korea's President Moon 'more confident of peace with North Korea' after meeting Donald Trump

Fears over policy clash allayed, South Korean government official says

Meeting Donald Trump has eased the concerns of South Korea's president over their potentially conflicting approaches to peace on the peninsula, it has been reported.

Moon Jae-in plans to pursue his policy towards North Korea "with more confidence" following his meeting with Mr Trump in Washington, according to a government official quoted by Yonhap.

"With regard to our government's resolve to resume South-North talks, it's true that there was some burden from worries that it may undermine [international] sanctions on North Korea," he told the agency.

But after the US President backed Mr Moon's plans for renewed dialogue those fears appear to have faded, Yonhap reported.

"Noting that sanctions are a tool of diplomacy, the two leaders emphasised that the door to dialogue with the DPRK remains open under the right circumstances," read a joint statement following their summit.

Successive rounds of sanctions on Pyongyang have followed its repeated weapons tests. Under Barack Obama, the policy of imposing sanctions and isolating the North diplomatically was known as "strategic patience".

Mr Trump's rhetoric towards North Korea has been robust. Earlier this year he warned a "major, major conflict" was "absolutely" possible while Vice President Mike Pence said "all options" were being considered during a visit to Seoul in April.

Speaking after the death of Otto Warmbier, a student who had been detained for more than a year in North Korea and was returned to the US suffering severe neurological injury, Mr Trump said "patience is over".

In the past he has appeared to praise dictator Kim Jong-un, however, saying: "He's 27 years old. His father dies, took over a regime. So say what you want, but that is not easy, especially at that age."

Other officials have taken a less combative tone.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the US would seek to talk to Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme, while Defence Secretary James Mattis admitted outright war with North Korea would be "catastrophic" and "probably the worst kind of fighting in most people's lifetimes".