hankyoreh

South Korean President Moon Jae-in with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

While visiting the US on Apr. 11 for a Washington summit with US President Donald Trump, South Korean President Moon Jae-in stressed that his “important task” is to “maintain the momentum of dialogue” toward North Korea’s denuclearization while “express[ing] the positive outlook, regarding the third US-North Korea Summit, to the international community that this will be held in the near future.”

Meanwhile, Trump stressed his “good relationship” with North Korea and said he “look[s] forward to” further dialogue.

Following a one-on-one summit with Trump at the White House lasting an hour and 40 minutes at 12:10 pm that day, President Moon joined him for a small-scale and extended summit/working lunch, during which the two leaders discussed the resumption of North Korea-US dialogue and approaches to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Moon shared the message with Trump that a third North Korea-US summit should be held in the near future, describing the second summit in Hanoi as “part of a bigger process that will lead us to a bigger agreement.”

With his message, Moon was attempting to persuade Trump to make a decision by stressing that the results achieved to date were the result of a “top-down” approach spearheaded by the South and North Korea and US leaders.

He went on to stress the solidity of the South Korea-US alliance.

“[L]et me reiterate that the Republic of Korea is absolutely on the same page when it comes to the end state of the complete denuclearization of North Korea. And I can reassure you that we will remain in such great collaboration with the United States,” he said, adding that there would be “no daylight until we achieve our ultimate goal.”

In response, Trump noted that “a lot of progress has been made” with North Korea and that his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was “very, very good.”

“We will have further dialogue and I look forward to it,” he said, adding, “Hopefully, it will end up in a great solution for everybody.”

Acknowledging that the US “did not fulfill what we wanted to” despite his good relations with North Korea, Trump said, “Kim Jong-un has been, really, somebody that I’ve gotten to know very well and respect.”

“I think North Korea has a tremendous potential,” he continued. “My relationship with Kim Jong Un has been a very strong relationship.”

“I can truly say I want to extend my warmest wishes to Kim Jong-un and the people of North Korea,” he added. “We’ll see what happens. Hopefully, it will end up in a great solution for everybody, and ultimately a great solution for the world.”

Commenting on the South Korea-US alliance, Trump said the relationship between the two sides was closer than ever before.

Moon meets Pence, Pompeo, and Bolton

Ahead of the summit, Moon met successively at his guest house with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, and Vice President Mike Pence, whom he attempted to persuade of the US’ need to quickly resume denuclearization talks with North Korea. Speaking to Pence, Moon was quoted by Yoon Do-han, Blue House senior secretary to the president for public relations, as saying, “The Hanoi summit was part of the process toward denuclearization, and it is necessary to sustain the momentum and resume North Korea-US dialogue quickly.”

Pledging to “do whatever we need to do to achieve the Korean Peninsula’s complete denuclearization and establish a peace regime,” Moon added, “We will work to build a close cooperative relationship with the US in the process,” Yoon reported.

In reply, Pence was quoted as saying, “The US maintains a positive stance, and the door for dialogue is open.” He was also reported as saying he was “hopeful” for the resumption of North Korea-US dialogue.

In his meetings with Pompeo and Bolton, Moon shared a similar message stressing the importance of sustaining the momentum of North Korea-US dialogue and achieving results through a top-down approach, adding that he believed the approach would be “feasible.” In response, Pompeo and Bolton were quoted as saying the US would continue to hold dialogue with North Korea and commit various efforts to dialogue with Pyongyang at different levels.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]