25 August 2017

News Story: S. Korea to pursue engaging, denuclearizing N. Korea simultaneously - Moon

South Korean President Moon Jae-in
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will simultaneously pursue efforts to engage North Korea and denuclearize the country instead of choosing one over the other, President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday.

"Efforts for denuclearizing North Korea and efforts for improving the South-North Korea relationship are not a matter of choosing one over the other. They should rather be pursued in a way that they make up for each other," Moon was quoted as saying during the foreign ministry's policy briefing session with him.

His remarks came as South Korea and the United States are warming toward using direct talks with North Korea to achieve the denuclearization of the country instead of insisting on their previous hard-line stance that dialogue could come only after headway in the denuclearization front.

"There were some notable remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump and (Secretary of State) Rex Tillerson about North Korea's restraint in making provocations. And South Korea will make proactive and leading efforts to have these positive moves lead to a window of opportunity in the near future," Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam later said in a press briefing about the session.

The session also reaffirmed South Korea's determination to find a peaceful resolution to North Korea's nuclear stalemate and prevent a war from taking place on the Korean Peninsula in any case, according to Lim.

Read the full story at YonhapNews