Human rights activists have reacted angrily to confirmation from South Korea’s presidential office that the well-being of millions of North Koreans will not be a significant part of the agenda when Moon Jae-in meets his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un, later this month.

Activists have told The Telegraph that the South Korean president is “sacrificing” millions of North Koreans in order to reach a deal on the regime’s nuclear weapons when the two matters should be considered intrinsically connected.

Reaching an agreement on the nuclear issue, they add, will leave the South with very little leverage over the North on its appalling human rights record.

One day after a coalition of 40 human rights groups released an open letter calling on Mr Moon to address the North’s record on human rights when he meets Mr Kim on April 27, an official of the Blue House stated on Wednesday that eliminating the North’s nuclear capabilities was its priority.

“The most urgent issue is the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”, the official told Yonhap News. “The first goal of the inter-Korean summit is to establish peace and denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.