Moon Meets Ahn Cheol-soo: "Results of the South Korea-US Summit Bring Both Hope and Concern"

On the 26th, Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People Party, is speaking at a luncheon meeting with President Moon Jae-in and leaders of ruling and opposition parties held at the Blue House. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, met with President Moon Jae-in to express both expectations and concerns regarding the outcome of the South Korea-U.S. summit.

On the 26th, at a luncheon meeting with leaders of the five ruling and opposition parties held at the Blue House, Ahn told President Moon, "I want to say that there are both expectations and concerns coexisting regarding the results of this South Korea-U.S. summit."

He cited the restoration of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and the end of missile guidelines as the most positive aspects. Ahn explained, "I evaluate this as a significant opportunity not only for security but also for the development of our future aerospace industry."

However, he expressed regret regarding vaccine and technology acquisition. Ahn pointed out, "The vaccine swap did not materialize, and regarding messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine production, it is regrettable that the agreement was limited to production at the bottling level rather than technology transfer at this time."

He continued, "Above all, many tasks remain to implement the agreements made in the joint statement," citing "North Korea’s denuclearization and human rights issues, normalization of relations with Japan for South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation, participation in the Quad, transfer of core mRNA vaccine technology, and issues related to future nuclear power projects."

Ahn Hye-jin, spokesperson for the People’s Party, also stated at a briefing held that afternoon, "Ahn asked whether the summit results, which differ significantly from the current administration’s foreign and security policies, were achieved as the government predicted and prepared, but did not receive an answer." She added, "There are parts of the South Korea-U.S. summit agreement that differ from the ruling Democratic Party’s position. We asked Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party, whether they all agree and plan to proceed based on the summit’s content, but did not receive a response, which was regrettable."

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