Moon vows to build ‘peace economy’ with North Korea

South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowed Thursday to build a peace economy on the Korean Peninsula with North Korea through dialogue and cooperation.

Moon made the remarks in his address on the 74th anniversary of the Liberation Day to mark the liberation of the peninsula from the 1910-45 Japanese colonization.

“We aim to establish a peace economy in which prosperity is achieved through peace and also complete our liberation through the unification of the peninsula,” Moon said.

“The peace economy begins with the efforts to continue dialogue and cooperation so that North Korea can choose economic prosperity over nuclear program upon the foundation of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Moon said.

The denuclearization talks between North Korea and the US have been stalled, but the working-level talks between the two sides would be resumed in the near future after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump met at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in June, he said. “In spite of a series of worrying actions taken by North Korea recently, the momentum for dialogue remains unshaken,” he added.

“Now is the time for both Koreas and the US to focus on resuming working-level negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington at the earliest possible date,” he said.

North Korea fired off shortrange projectiles in recent weeks in an apparent protest against the ongoing joint annual military exercises of South Korea and the US.