Moon says DPRK willing to denuclearize
THE Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is “willing to denuclearize” and the United States is prepared to end hostile relations, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said yesterday as he struck an upbeat tone ahead of his third meeting with Kim Jong Un next week.
The summit will be the third between the leaders of the DPRK and South Korea this year and comes as talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled.
Moon conceded there was a “blockage” and both sides needed to compromise to make progress on the controversial subject.
“North Korea is willing to denuclearize and therefore willing to discard existing nuclear weapons ... and the US is willing to end hostile relations with North Korea and provide security guarantees,” Moon said. “But there is a blockage as both sides are demanding each other to act first, and I think they will be able to find a point of compromise.”
Moon, who helped broker the June summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump and has called for a follow-up meeting between the two sides, added that South Korea would help mediate contacts between Washington and Pyongyang to “speed up the denuclearization process.”
Trump and Kim pledged to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula at their Singapore meeting.
However, no details were agreed. Last month, Trump abruptly canceled a planned visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said yesterday that making progress on denuclearization talks with the DPRK is a “daily concern.”
“Getting traction on the denuclearization and peace process that is very much now in motion — it’s a daily concern to get movement on this,” she told a regional economic forum in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.
Kang called for “openness” from the DPRK about their weapons program and added that a second Trump-Kim summit should deliver “concrete” results. “A second summit has to be something that really significantly moves the agenda forward,” she added.
The White House said earlier this week that Trump had received a “very positive” letter from Kim seeking a follow-up meeting.