Moon calls for Pyongyang response to peace efforts ahead of US-South Korea summit

President Moon Jae-in speaks during a weekly meeting with his top aides at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

President Moon Jae-in said Monday that he expects North Korea to respond to South Korean and U.S. efforts to build peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Ten days before his scheduled summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in the U.S., Moon said at a weekly meeting with his top aides that Seoul and Washington were determined to bring back momentum to talks between the U.S. and the North as well as between the two Koreas.

“The upcoming South Korea-U.S. summit comes at our government's consistent principle to make the peace process on the Korean Peninsula a success and Trump's commitment to making a deal in negotiations with North Korea by continuing dialogue,” Moon said. “I hope North Korea will also respond to the efforts of the two governments of South Korea and the U.S.”

Moon said it had become clear that the two Koreas and the U.S. did not want to go back to the past when the tensions were high.

He said North Korea and the U.S. showed their willingness to continue dialogue by managing the situation after the breakup of the second summit between Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in late February.

"A temporary difficulty has been created due to the failure to reach an agreement at the second North Korea-U.S. summit, but the fact that South Korea, North Korea and the U.S. all do not wish to go back to the past is clearly being confirmed,” Moon said.

The denuclearization negotiations between the two countries have stalled over differences about the scope of North Korea's denuclearization and corresponding U.S. sanctions relief.

Moon also said there had been significant progress since the April 27 inter-Korean summit in less than a year and this was why the peace talks should continue.

Later in the day, Moon met leaders of civic groups at Cheong Wa Dae to call for cooperation in the government's efforts to promote inter-Korean peace, fine-dust policies and other social issues.

About 100 people from about 80 groups in various fields, including progressive and conservative groups, consumer groups, women's organizations and others, were invited to the presidential office.

The meeting was organized to gather opinions from various levels beyond the factions and especially to call for support for the administration's efforts over the past two years to establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.