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President Moon Jae-in holds a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Mar. 16
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“Denuclearization is the most important goal and process in establishing peace,” says South Korean leader
South Korean President Moon Jae-in voiced his strong commitment to the Korean Peninsula’s denuclearization in a Mar. 16 telephone conversation with US counterpart Donald Trump, announcing plans to create a climate for successful North Korea-US talks with the inter-Korean summit this April. “It is our firm position that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the most important goal and process in establishing peace on the peninsula and throughout the world, and that no concessions on that are possible under any circumstances or conditions,” Blue House senior public relations secretary Yoon Young-chan quoted Moon as saying in his conversation with Trump that day. “When I meet with [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un at the inter-Korean summit scheduled for late April, I will work to establish a climate for the subsequent success of the US-North Korea summit,” Moon also said, adding that he would “make thorough preparations for areas of concern stemming from past failures.” In their 35-minute conversation, the two leaders pledged to continue cooperating closely at each stage toward North Korea taking active steps with the goal of denuclearization. In connection with the US’s recent moves to invoke Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, Moon stressed that Trump’s “attention is important, as this is a moment that requires us to show externally how firm South Korea-US cooperation it is ahead of the inter-Korean and US-North Korea summits,” Yoon stated. The message read as Moon using the image of bilateral coordination as a pretext for indirectly calling on the US to relax its high tariffs on South Korean steel products. In response, Trump was quoted as making an effective demand for concessions on the KORUS Free Trade Agreement, asking Moon to “see to it that the South Korean representatives show a more flexible stance with the FTA renegotiation currently under way.” In an earlier 45-minute telephone conversation that afternoon with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Moon said that “peace on the Korean Peninsula is not only possible through inter-Korean summits.” “For progress in inter-Korean relations to be achieved, North Korean needs to improve not only its relationship with the US, but also its relationship with Japan,” he said. Abe shared his hopes for the inter-Korean and North Korea-US summits leading to possible North Korea-US dialogue, referencing the Sept. 2002 “peace declaration” announced by predecessor Junichiro Koizumi following his first summit in North Korea. By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
