Aide to Moon hopes for regular inter-Korean summits

April 1, 2018

Tokyo- An aide to South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday showed hopes for South and North Korea to hold bilateral summits regularly.

Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are set to meet at a South Korean facility in the border village of Panmunjom on April 27, in the first inter-Korean summit in 11 years.

In a speech in Tokyo, Moon Chung-in, special adviser on unification, foreign affairs and national security at the South Korean presidential office, said that the two Koreas may be able to hold bilateral summits regularly, noting that the Moon Jae-in administration is still in its early phase.

Considerable progress can be made if bilateral summits are held twice a year until the end of the South Korean president's term of office, he said.

If North Korea refrains from nuclear and missile testing, Seoul and Pyongyang would be able to continue a so-called shuttle diplomacy, he said.

South Korea and the United States are seeking a comprehensive solution to the North's nuclear program, Moon Chung-in said. But he said that implementation would take time, noting that the suspension of the nuclear program, and the declaration, inspections and scrapping of nuclear weapons and facilities in a verifiable manner need to be carried out in stages.

He also cited the importance of offering rewards to North Korea depending on progress in its denuclearization process.

If an agreement on a comprehensive solution is reached and North Korea starts taking concrete steps for its denuclearization, the South Korean government would be able to work with the United States and China to call on the U.N. Security Council to ease its sanctions on the reclusive state, Moon Chung-in said. Jiji Press