President Moon: "North and South face difficulties but strive for dialogue... Optimistic outlook"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu Reporter] President Moon Jae-in said, "I think that neither the inter-Korean nor the North Korea-US talks can be considered optimistic at this time, but it is not at a stage to be pessimistic either."

On the 14th, President Moon held a New Year's press conference under the theme "Certain Change, Republic of Korea 2020" at the Blue House State Guest House. When asked, "Do you still have trust in North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un's denuclearization and his visit to South Korea?" he said, "When National Security Office Chief Chung Eui-yong visited the US, President Trump called him into the Oval Office and asked him to deliver a birthday greeting message to Chairman Kim, which was delivered." He added, "President Trump seemed to think that was not enough, so he separately sent a letter with the same content to the North. That fact is very positive." He continued, "There were concerns about provocations from North Korea on Chairman Kim's birthday, but sending a congratulatory message and emphasizing the message of dialogue was a very good idea," emphasizing, "I want to highly evaluate that."

President Moon also explained, "North Korea received the letter and immediately responded. The friendship between the two leaders was emphasized once again," adding, "Although they set the premise that dialogue can only happen if North Korea's demands are accepted, they clearly stated that the door to dialogue has not been closed."

He went on, "The same applies to inter-Korean relations. Diplomacy has more unseen aspects than visible ones," and said, "Although inter-Korean relations are facing difficulties, efforts to increase cooperation through dialogue are still ongoing, and I am optimistic that things can go well."

This is President Moon's third New Year's press conference. Unlike previous years, since he delivered a New Year's address on the 7th, this year there was no separate New Year's speech. After a brief opening remark of about three minutes, the conference proceeded in a Q&A format. The questions from reporters were divided into three topics?politics and society, livelihood and economy, and diplomacy and security?without pre-selecting questioners.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.