South Korea's presidential office refused to speculate on a local media report claiming senior North Korean officials involved with the Hanoi summit had been purged.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, a presidential office official said that commenting on the issue is inappropriate and that nothing can be confirmed to the press at the current time.

The official added that the presidential office is monitoring all related developments and that it's important to verify the claims made in the article.

On Friday, the Chosun Ilbo daily, citing an unnamed source, published an article that said leading negotiator with the U.S. Kim Hyok-chol and four other senior officials were killed following the collapse of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi earlier this year.

The report further speculated that the purges were causing delays in the North's response to South Korea's proposal for another inter-Korean summit.