South Korean president Moon Jae-in told cabinet members Tuesday he hopes the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will usher in a “new era of complete denuclearization.”
“The North Korea-U.S. summit has now started,” Moon said. “I guess the attention of all our people must currently be directed toward Singapore.”
South Korea’s president and prime minister together watched a live stream of the summit opening. You can see their reaction on their faces #TrumpKimSummit pic.twitter.com/GPwa0gy3SB
— Elise Hu (@elisewho) June 12, 2018
“I too spent a sleepless night. I, along with all our people, sincerely hope that it will be a successful summit that will open a new era of complete denuclearization, peace and a new relationship between South Korea, North Korea and the United States,” the South Korea leader told reporters after taking in a live broadcast of the historic meeting between Trump and Kim.
On Monday, Moon suggested to officials that subsequent meetings would have to take place for the Korean peninsula to achieve peace.
“The deep-rooted hostile relationship and the North Korean nuclear issue cannot be resolved in one single action in a meeting between leaders,” Moon said Monday while meeting with his top aides. “Even after the two leaders open the dialogue, we will need a long process that may take one year, two years or even longer to completely resolve the issues.”
Moon met the North Korean dictator for the first time at the border village of Panmunjom on April 27 and a second time on May 26. “I am happy to meet you,” were the first words uttered by Kim told Moon.
“I am happy to meet you”:
With these words, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in began a summit during which they hope to end their decades-long conflict and ease tensions over the North’s nuclear weapons program. #InterKoreanSummit pic.twitter.com/jEWfpkOI8E
— dwnews (@dwnews) April 27, 2018
According to reports, Moon discussed a possible three-way summit between the U.S., South Korea, and the Hermit Kingdom.
“The discussions are just getting started, so we are still waiting to see how they come out, but depending on their outcome, the president could join President Trump and Chairman Kim in Singapore,” an unnamed official told Yonhap.
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