By Hyonhee Shin and Jeff Mason
SEOUL/WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will visit South Korea this weekend after an exchange of letters with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un boosted hopes for talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programme.
Trump is set to arrive in South Korea for a two-day visit on Saturday, and will meet President Moon Jae-in on Sunday, following a summit of G20 leaders in Japan, Moon's spokeswoman, Ko Min-jung, said.
The announcement comes hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped a letter Trump sent to Kim could pave the way for a revival of stalled nuclear talks.
Trump and Moon would have "in-depth discussions on ways to work together to foster lasting peace through the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, while strengthening the two countries' alliance", Ko told a news briefing on Monday.
Pompeo, who spoke of Trump's letter to Kim before departing from Washington for the Middle East, said the United States was ready to resume talks with North Korea immediately.
"I'm hopeful that this will provide a good foundation for us to begin ... these important discussions with the North Koreans," Pompeo told reporters.
Japanese media reported over the weekend that Trump may go to the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas. He wanted to visit the zone during a 2017 trip to South Korea but heavy fog prevented it.
A former South Korean unification minister, Chung Se-hyun, who has advised Moon on relations with North Korea, said in a radio interview on Monday that it was possible for Trump to meet Kim in the DMZ.
Kim and Moon held their historic first summit in the DMZ last year. But Ko said details of Trump's itinerary had not been finalised.
Trump and Kim held their first, ground-breaking summit in Singapore in June last year, agreeing to establish new relations and work towards the denuclerisation of the Korean peninsula.
But a second summit in Vietnam in February collapsed when the two sides were unable to bridge differences between U.S. demands for denuclerisation and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.
'EXCELLENT'
With talks stalled, tension mounted last month when the North test-fired a series of short-range ballistic missiles, though Trump and South Korea both played won the tests.
One June 11, Trump said he had received a very warm, "beautiful" letter from Kim, adding he thought something positive would happen.
North Korea's state news agency KCNA said on Sunday Kim had received a letter from Trump, which he described as being "of excellent content", but did not disclose any details.