North Korean and U.S. officials are holding “behind the- scenes talks” to arrange a third summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the fate of the North’s expanding nuclear arsenal, South Korea’s president said, four months after a second meeting between the leaders in Vietnam collapsed without any agreement.

However, North Korea promptly denied that this was the case and told South Korea on Thursday to butt out.

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There have been no public meetings between Washington and Pyongyang since the breakdown of the Vietnam summit. But the prospects for a resumption of U.S.-North Korea diplomacy have brightened since Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim recently exchanged personal letters.

Mr. Trump was asked Wednesday as he departed for Asia if he would be meeting with Mr. Kim after the Group of 20 summit in Japan.

Mr. Trump said he wouldn’t be meeting with Mr. Kim, but then added: “I may be speaking with him in a different forum. I will be going, as you know, to South Korea after the summit.” He didn’t elaborate.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a longtime supporter of detente with Pyongyang, said that Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Kim’s “willingness to engage in dialogue has never faded” and that their recent letter exchanges prove that. . . . 

Mr. Moon insisted he did not see the Vietnam summit as a failure. He said he thinks the meeting served as a chance for both Washington and Pyongyang to better understand each other’s positions and “put everything they want on the negotiating table.”

North Korea threw a wrench in the works Thursday by saying Seoul must stop trying to mediate between Pyongyang and Washington. . . .

He also dismissed as false the comments by Mr. Moon and other South Korean officials that there are various exchanges and unofficial talks between the two Koreas.

Despite the deadlocked nuclear negotiations, both Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim have described their personal relationship as good.

But in yet another reminder of North Korea’s continued mistrust of the United States, the North’s foreign ministry said earlier Wednesday in Pyongyang won’t surrender to U.S.-led sanctions and accused Washington of trying to “bring us to our knees.”

Mr. Kim has said North Korea will seek a “new way” if the United States persists with sanctions and pressure. Following his setback in Vietnam, Mr. Kim traveled to the Russian Far East in April for his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Kim also hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang last week for their fifth summit since March last year, and experts say the North’s outreach to its traditional allies is aimed at strengthening its leverage with the Trump administration. . . .

Mr. Trump’s top envoy on North Korea, Stephen E. Biegun, is to visit South Korea on Thursday, and some experts said he may use his trip as a chance to meet North Korean officials at a Korean border village.

(Excerpted from The Washington Times, article by Adam Schreck, Hyung-Jin Kim, and  Kim Tong-Hyung.)