Palace hopes for ‘peaceful solution’ on US-NKorea conflict

MALACAÑAN welcomed on Saturday, March 10, the planned meeting of between United States (US) President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, amid the spiraling tensions between the two countries on Korean peninsula.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said President Rodrigo Duterte, whose resolve is to find ways to end the stand-off between the US and North Korea over Korean Peninsula, expressed gratitude to the impending dialogue between Trump and Kim.

Roque said the President was optimistic that

the two leaders, if the meeting pushes through, would come up with a “peaceful solution” to put an end to the 70-year standoff between the US and North Korea.

“We welcome this dialogue between the head of North Korea and President Trump. President Duterte... repeatedly said he has no interest to have war in the region,” he told reporters in Iloilo.

“Now that they (Trump and Kim) will meet, it’s a reason for the President to be elated and it gives him hope that the controversy hounding the Korean Peninsula will be solved through a peaceful solution,” he added.

Kim has invited Trump for a meeting to talk over the isolated nation’s nuclear and missile program.

On Friday, March 9, Trump was open to meeting with Kim, in conditions that the North Korean leader would not conduct missile testing while the possible talks begin.

Earlier Saturday, the US President said meeting Kim “is very much in the making.” He, however, noted that “time and place [of the meeting are yet] to be determined.”

In May 2017, Duterte believed that there will be “no winner” on the apparent rift between the US and North Korea, as “any violence now would result only in both sides losing.”

Duterte, who chaired the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2017, also agreed with other Southeast Asian leaders last year that the US and North Korea must maintain “peace, security, and stability” by pushing for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Also last year, the Asean called on the US and North Korea to “explore all avenues for immediate dialogue” to ease the aggravating tensions between the two nations. SunStar Philippines