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President Moon Jae-in speaks with US President Donald Trump during a phone call on Sept. 1. (provided by Blue House)

During a phone call, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump reportedly agreed to revise the two countries’ missile guidelines.

Moon’s phone call with Trump began at 11:10 pm on Sept. 1 and lasted for about 40 minutes, according to Blue House spokesperson Park Soo-hyun. During the phone call, the two leaders discussed how the North Korea’s recent missile provocations had affected the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and how to respond to those provocations. They also agreed to update the missile guidelines.

“The two leaders are of the same mind about the necessity of strengthening South Korea’s military in response to North Korea’s provocations and threat, and they agreed on the principle of revising the missile guidelines to the extent desired by South Korea,” Park said in a press release sent by e-mail to reporters immediately after the phone call.

Moon described North Korea’s launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) as “a violation of the UN Security Council resolution and a severe provocation that raises tensions in the region.” Park also quoted Moon as saying, “Strong countermeasures have been adopted so that the South Korean military can display its massive retaliatory capabilities.”

Park went on to say, “Our assessment is that South Korea and the US’s close cooperation helped the US demonstrate the firm defensive posture of the South Korea-US coalition through swiftly deploying strategic assets and helped the UN Security Council release a presidential statement denouncing North Korea’s missile provocations with unprecedented speed.”

Trump responded by saying, “It’s important to respond firmly to North Korea’s continuing provocations and to communicate a strong and clear message to North Korea.” In addition to this, the two leaders expressed their support for the principle of revising the missile guidelines to the level desired by South Korea in order to strengthen South Korea’s armed forces and agreed to meet during the upcoming UN General Assembly.

“President Moon and President Trump reaffirmed the importance of deterring North Korean provocations by applying the maximum sanctions and pressure on the North and of bringing the North to the negotiating table to achieve a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue,” Park said. “They observed that close deliberations had continued between the two countries’ national security councils and their diplomatic and military officials during the recent process of responding to and deterring North Korea’s provocations, and they agreed to continue such close cooperation in the future through frequent contact at all levels.”

Moon also offered consolation for the immense loss of life and property damage in the southern US resulting from Hurricane Harvey, the strongest hurricane to hit the US mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He also expressed his desire to participate in the recovery effort, to which Trump reportedly expressed his gratitude. This was the first phone call between the two leaders in 25 days, when they talked on the phone about North Korea’s provocations on Aug. 7.

By Jung Yu-gyung, staff reporter

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