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South Korean President Moon Jae-in makes a speech at the Swedish parliament in Stockholm on June 14.
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South Korean president addresses Swedish parliament during Scandinavian tour
“It’s not nuclear weapons but dialogue that preserves peace in North Korea,” said South Korean President Moon Jae-in during a state visit to Sweden on June 14. “If North Korea moves down the road of dialogue, there’s no one in the world who will threaten its regime or security.” “Peace can only be realized through peaceable means. That’s dialogue,” Moon said during a speech titled “Trust for Peace and the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” that he delivered to the Swedish parliament on Friday. “Our respective regimes must be respected and guaranteed. That’s the first step toward peace, and an unchanging precondition,” Moon stated. “If North Korea moves down the road of dialogue, there’s no one in the world who will threaten its regime or security,” Moon emphasized. This was an appeal to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who’s concerned about the instability in his regime that could follow the abandonment of nuclear weapons, to trust South Korea and the US and actively engage in dialogue. “North Korea needs to give the international community a substantive demonstration of its commitment to completely terminate its nuclear program and build a peaceful regime. Until such a time as it has gained the trust of the international community, it needs to continue dialogue with the international community, whether that be bilateral or multilateral,” Moon said. Moon also made an appeal to the South Korean public, asking them to trust North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization and encourage the North. “Trust must be reciprocal. The South Korean people need to also trust dialogue with the North,” Moon stressed. This represented a call for restraint from some conservative groups who have been undercutting the progress over the past year and a half and pushing for an adversarial approach while the denuclearization talks and inter-Korean dialogue have been on hold. Moon also called on North Korea to “prove that it can build peace on the inside by implementing the exchange and cooperation projects it has agreed to pursue with the South.” In addition, Moon stressed that the international community needs to take action to reward North Korea for progress on denuclearization. “When North Korea makes a sincere effort, the international community should respond immediately. In addition to lifting sanctions, it should also provide a guarantee for North Korea’s security,” he said. “The president sent North Korea a clear message that mutual trust is a much better way to keep the peace and that more peaceful lives can be enjoyed without nuclear weapons,” said an official at the Blue House. “If we continue to build an ordinary peace through small but concrete steps, hostility will vanish, and the people of South and North Korea will all support peace. If we always hold the door to dialogue open and don’t give up on communication, we can reduce misunderstanding and broaden our understanding,” he said.’’ By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
