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South Korean President Moon Jae-in presides over a meeting with senior secretaries and advisors at the Blue House on Feb. 11. (Blue House photo pool)

With just two weeks to go before the second North Korea-US summit, which is scheduled to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27-28, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Feb. 11 that he expects it to be “a historic summit that will move the Korean Peninsula out of the Cold War era of hostility and conflict and into a place of peace and prosperity.”

During a meeting with senior secretaries and advisors at the Blue House on Monday, Moon said that the second summit represents “major progress in the Korean Peninsula peace process that began last year.”

“The first summit itself was a historical achievement that will go down as a definite turning point in world history,” Moon said.

“I expect that the second summit will go a step further and be a major turning point that will bring about more concrete and tangible progress on principles that have already been agreed upon, namely the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a reset of North Korea-US relations and a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”

“I would like to express my respect for the courage of the leaders of North Korea and the US, whose unprecedented and bold diplomatic efforts are crossing the deep chasm resulting from 70 years of distrust,” Moon added.

Moon expects that this summit will contribute to the Korean Peninsula peace process by accelerating inter-Korean economic cooperation. “By taking advantage of the first opportunity of its kind since the division of the peninsula, we can break completely free from the threat of war and build a future in which peace is our economy. South and North Korea need to go beyond an era of peace without war and usher in an age of a peace economy, in which peace is the economy’s new engine for growth.”

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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