President to pursue peace treaty with N. Korea, despite ICBM

President Moon Jae-in speaks about peace on the Korean Peninsula, inter-Korean relations and unification at the old city hall of Berlin, Germany, Thursday. The non-profit Korber Foundation invited the President to the event. / Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday he will seek to pursue a peace treaty with North Korea, taking a step forward for inter-Korean reconciliation despite Pyongyang's test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) two days earlier.

Moon's pledge comes after North Korea and China have repeatedly called for the signing of a peace treaty with the United States to formally end the Korean War and settle the security crisis on the peninsula.

The President appeared to be seeking U.S. support in his push for a peace treaty as the U.S., on behalf of the United Nations, signed the 1953 armistice agreement with North Korea and China. South Korea was not among the signatories.

"We should make a peace treaty joined by all relevant parties at the end of the Korean War to settle a lasting peace on the peninsula," Moon said during his Korean-language invitational speech at the Korber Foundation, a nonprofit think tank in Berlin. "I will take a comprehensive approach to North Korean nuclear issues to pursue the peace treaty along with complete denuclearization (in the region.)"

The President is currently in Germany to attend the G20 summit in Hamburg from Friday to Saturday.

Moon, who received support from U.S. President Donald Trump on resuming inter-Korean dialogue in their summit last week, said he was willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if certain conditions were met.

"When the right conditions are fostered and when there is a chance to reverse the current tension and situation of confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, I am ready to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at any time and any place," he said.

Moon added that North Korea may be facing its "last and best chance" to return to dialogue considering that South Korea and the U.S. have agreed on a peaceful denuclearization of the peninsula, and that they will not maintain a hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

"I make this clear here and now. We do not want North Korea to collapse, nor will we seek any form of unification by absorption," he said.

Citing that German unification was possible through bipartisan cooperation, Moon called for a need to legalize agreements made between the two Koreas for "enduring freedom."

To ensure co-existence and co-prosperity across the border, the President promised to lay out a new economic roadmap, saying "economic cooperation will be the critical cornerstone to settle peace on the peninsula."

Among the possible economic exchanges will be linking railroads across the demilitarized zone, expanding an inter-Korean railway network to Russia and Europe via Pyongyang -- starting in Busan -- and building a natural gas pipeline across the two Koreas to Russia

"By doing so, South and North Korea can prosper together as a bridge connecting the continents and seas. All this can be possible if the two sides carry out their joint declaration made during the Oct. 4, 2007 summit," he said.

The President vowed for consistent inter-Korean exchanges on civic and humanitarian grounds, saying they were a "process of healing every Korean's pain and producing harmony."

He pointed out that there are still over 60,000 family members who are separated by the Korean War and that their average age is 81.

Moon said natural disasters such as floods and wildfires as well as infectious diseases spread regardless of borders so that cross-border measures will be needed.

Regarding North Korea's dire human rights record, the President said South Korea will "speak out" with the international community while bolstering humanitarian aid for civilians.

Moon's speech followed Pyongyang's test-launch of a Hwasong-14 missile, the most serious provocation since he took office May 10.

The U.S. purportedly sought for peace talks with North Korea secretly under the Barack Obama administration. But the plan was scrapped after the Kim regime carried out its fourth nuclear test in January 2016.

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