The Korea Herald

소아쌤

Moon likely to call N. Korean leader before N. Korea-US summit: official

By Yonhap

Published : May 11, 2018 - 09:28

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in will likely hold a telephone conversation with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the near future, before the upcoming US-North Korea summit set to be held next month, an official from Moon's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.

The call will be made over the new hotline installed between the offices of the leaders of the two divided Koreas, the official noted, while speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The call will be made in the near future," the official told reporters.

(Yonhap) (Yonhap)

If made, the call will mark the first of its kind between the incumbent leaders of the two Koreas though the two met at the border village of Panmunjom on April 27 for a historic summit that led to their joint declaration for peace and reconciliation.

Under the so-called Panmunjom Declaration, Moon and Kim affirmed their commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as well as seeking a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

Seoul and Pyongyang technically remain at war as the Korean War ended only with an armistice, not a peace treaty. They are now moving to replace the armistice with a peace treaty, a move they said will require the support and participation of at least the United States and possibly even China.

US President Donald Trump is set to meet Kim to discuss such measures, along with ways to peacefully denuclearize North Korea.

The US president said his meeting with the North Korean leader will take place in Singapore on June 12.

Seoul welcomed the much anticipated meeting.

"We welcome the North Korea-US summit set to be held in Singapore on June 12. We hope denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and establishment of permanent peace will successfully land through the upcoming summit," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a released statement.

Moon is set to visit the US for talks with his US counterpart on May 22.

There, he is widely expected to brief Trump on what to expect and what not to expect from the North Korean leader.

The South Korean president has also held at least two telephone conversations with Trump since his bilateral summit with Kim.(Yonhap)