S. Korea must seize opportunity of upcoming summits with N. Korea: Pres. Moon

  • 6 years ago
Once again we start things off with how Seoul's gearing up for the historic summit.
President Moon Jae-in met with a group of 21 senior experts and policy advisers on North Korea to seek their advice and learn from their experience when holding dialogue with Pyongyang.
Also this afternoon, the comprehensive situation room the liberal leader ordered is ready to get down to business.
Hwang Hojun has our top story.
With just 15 days until the inter-Korean summit, and the Washington-Pyongyang summit to be held soon after,...
President Moon Jae-in said South Korea must do everything it can to take advantage of such a rare opportunity.

The two summits will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that could lead to complete denuclearization, the establishment of lasting peace on the Peninsula, and a sustainable relationship between the two Koreas. We absolutely must seize this opportunity.

President Moon made those comments in a luncheon meeting held at the Blue House with a group of experts and advisers,... including former unification ministers, former envoys to Pyongyang, and President Moon's current special security adviser Moon Chung-in.
In other words, the group consisted of the driving forces behind the past two inter-Korean summits, the first in 2000 and the second in 2007.
While there have been a number of agreements for peace made between Seoul and Pyongyang, the South Korean President noted the April 27th summit will happen under the most stringent of circumstances.
He noted that military tensions have reached new heights... and that South-North relations have been severed for 10 years.
All the while, North Korea's nuclear and missile technologies have advanced to a point where even the U.S. feels threatened.
The liberal leader stressed that the Seoul-Pyongyang relationship cannot be resolved by the summit between the two Koreas alone,... and a denuclearization agreement must be reached by Washington and Pyongyang.
That, President Moon admitted, is not an easy task.

"And that is why we are in desperate need of the experience and wisdom belonging to you, our elders. Not only for the success of the inter-Korean summit but also for the U.S.-North Korea summit."

Meanwhile, Thursday afternoon, the Presidential Office of Cheong Wa Dae announced it has formed the comprehensive situation room for the inter-Korean summit, which President Moon ordered when he sat down with the interagency preparation committee on Wednesday.

In meeting with experts and setting up the situation room,...
President Moon is determined to do his utmost for the success of his dialogue with Kim Jong-un.
He pledged the government will actively communicate with the public during the process, and asked his advisers to help unify the people and rally their support.
Hwang Hojun, Arirang News.

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