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President Moon Jae-in holds a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Blue House on Apr. 24. (provided by Blue House)

The declaration of an end to the Korean War will “only succeed with at least a trilateral agreement by South Korea, North Korea, and the US,” South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in an Apr. 24 telephone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Moon also said in the conversation that he would share Abe’s position on the issue of Japanese abductees with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in their upcoming inter-Korean summit.

During his 40-minute telephone conversation with Abe at the Blue House on Apr. 24, Moon discussed recent changes in the political situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula, Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyum said. The conversation between the two leaders, which took place at Abe’s request, was the first in 40 days since a previous one on Mar. 16.

When asked by Abe what the prospects were for a declaration of the Korean War’s end and signing of a peace agreement at the summit, Moon replied that the matter of declaring an end to the war “will not be resolved through inter-Korean dialogue alone, but can only succeed with at least a trilateral agreement by South Korea, North Korea, and the US.” Moon also said he planned to “cooperate closely with the US to meet the conditions” and to “continue discussing matters” with Abe.

“The success of the inter-Korean talks will be very helpful not only in the success of the coming North Korea-US summit but also the normalization of relations between Japan and North Korea, and provide an opportunity to fundamentally resolve various issues existing between Japan and North Korea,” Moon said.

Replying to Moon’s question about the possibility of Japan having dialogue or a summit with North Korea if the inter-Korean and North Korea-US summits go well, Abe said, “If the inter-Korean and North Korea-US summits conclude successfully, dialogue could take place naturally between Japan and North Korea as well.”

“In that case, we may be able to resolve past history and normalize relations between Japan and North Korea based on the Pyongyang Declaration,” he added. Signed in Sept. 2002 by then-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during the former’s visit to Pyongyang, the declaration refers to the resolution of issues between the two sides to achieve normalization in their relations.

“Prime Minister Abe’s use of the terms ‘resolving past history’ and ‘normalizing relations’ includes the sense of resolving with North Korea the matter of compensation for the period of imperial Japanese occupation, and could be seen as having the establishment of a diplomatic relationship between North Korea and Japan in mind as well,” a Blue House senior official said.

Moon mentioned his plans to bring up the issue of Japanese abductees during his summit with Kim, as Tokyo has suggested. This marked the first time Moon has announced plans to broach the abductee issue at the summit. In response to Abe’s request to “raise the issue of [North Korea’s] abduction of Japanese citizens at the summit,” Moon said, “We have already mentioned the abductee issue to North Korea when the opportunity has arisen.”

“I plan to tell Chairman Kim that a resolution to the Japanese abductee issue will help in establishing peace in Northeast Asia,” he said, adding that he would “communicate” Abe’s position.

A Blue House senior official stressed that support and cooperation from Japan and other neighbors are “necessary for denuclearization and the establishment of permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

“Prime Minister Abe made his request ahead of the summit, and President Moon respectfully accepted it in the spirit of mutual cooperation,” the official said.

Moon also promised to call Abe after the summit on Apr. 27 to explain about the outcome.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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