US-North Korea talks: S Korea welcomes renewed prospect of Trump-Kim summit

"We find it fortunate that the embers of the North Korea-US talks are reignited. We are watching developments carefully," Presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-gyeom said.

Trump's cancellation of the summit blindsided treaty ally South Korea, which had brokered the remarkable detente between Washington and Pyongyang.

President Moon Jae-in had to scramble his national security team when news of Trump's decision first reached Seoul late Thursday evening as he called Washington's u-turn "shocking and very regrettable".

On Thursday, Trump turned on his heels again, saying the meeting with Kim could go ahead after all -- and would "likely" happen on the originally scheduled date of June 12 in Singapore.

The summit would be an unprecedented meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, which Washington hopes will result in full denuclearisation of the reclusive state.