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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump hold a summit at the InterContinental Barclay in New York on Sept. 23.
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S. Korean and US presidents discuss potential of 3rd N. Korea-US summit
During his summit with US President Donald Trump in New York on Sept. 23, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that a third North Korea-US summit, if held, would “go down as a truly historic moment” and lead to “a great transformation in terms of [the] complete denuclearization [of] the Korean Peninsula.” When asked about the possibility of holding a third summit with the North Korean leader, Trump said, “I want to know what’s going to be coming out of it. We can know a lot before the summit takes place.” Moon and Trump held their ninth summit, which lasted for an hour and five minutes, at the InterContinental Barclay, Moon’s hotel in New York. “I will be expecting the working-level negotiations between the United States and North Korea to prepare for [. . .] your third summit with Chairman Kim to resume [. . .] soon,” Moon said during his opening remarks to the summit. Moon continued by telling Trump that his visit to Panmunjom “will go down as a historic moment that embodied peace through action. And I have to say that I always marvel at your imagination and bold decision-making.” In his remarks, Trump implied that considerable preliminary coordination would be needed before the third North Korea-US summit could be held. “Right now, people would like to see [the third summit] happen. I want to know what’s going to be coming out of it. We can know a lot before the summit takes place.” Trump also noted that he and Kim had held “two very successful summits.” When reporters asked Trump earlier, before the summit, when he would be meeting Kim, Trump had said the meeting would take place soon. But in his opening remarks at the summit, he exhibited more caution. Trump reiterated his lack of concern about North Korea’s recent short-range missile launches. “We’re getting along very well with North Korea. I have a good relationship with Kim Jong-un,” Trump said. “A lot of people and a lot of countries test short-range missiles,” Trump said, adding that Kim has “lived up to his word” on matters that the two have discussed. “There’s been no nuclear testing at all for [. . .] quite a long period of time,” Trump said. “You would have been at war right now with North Korea if I weren’t president.” During his remarks, Trump also highlighted some of his accomplishments as president. “There’s been no lessening of the sanctions. [. . .] Very importantly, we have our hostages back. We have the remains of our great heroes from the past back.” Moon and Trump both emphasized the strength of the South Korea-US relationship. Trump said that he and Moon “have a long-term friendship, and we are making a lot of progress.” “We’ve completed a trade deal, and that’s working out very well for both countries. [. . .] South Korea is one of our largest purchasers of military equipment. And we’re working together very well,” Trump said. Moon responded as follows: “During the time I have been working together with you, the ROK [South Korea]-US alliance has been evolving in a great way, especially in the economic field. We have been able to revise a bilateral free trade agreement, and that has been a great success, while many Korean companies are increasing their investment in America.” “During the course of my visit to New York, we’ll be signing [a] deal to increase the import of LNG [liquefied natural gas] from America, while we’ll also be signing a deal regarding a joint venture between a Korean motor company and [a self-driving] vehicle company in America. So I believe that all of this will come to reinforce our already strong alliance,” Moon also said. By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter, and Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
