[Yonhap News Photo]
WASHINGTON -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to closely work together to hold the U.S.-North Korea summit as scheduled, apparently removing earlier skepticism by the U.S. over the North's commitment to the summit and its denuclearization.
"President Moon and President Trump agreed to do their utmost so the U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled for June 12 will be held without any disruption," Moon's chief press secretary, Yoon Young-chan, said of the summit here in Washington.
The latest South Korea-U.S. summit came one day after Moon arrived. His meeting with Trump marked the fourth of its kind since Moon took office in May 2017. The agreement to hold the U.S.-North Korea summit as scheduled came shortly after Trump hinted at a possible delay.
"We are moving along and we will see what happens," Trump told reporters when asked whether his scheduled summit with Kim would take place as scheduled. "There are certain conditions that we want. And I think we will get those conditions. And if we don't, we don't have the meeting. If it doesn't happen, maybe it will happen later. Maybe it will happen at a different time," Trump said, according to Cheong Wa Dae pool reports.
Moon highlighted the importance of the U.S.-North Korea summit, calling it an unprecedented chance to rid the North of its nuclear ambitions. "I am very well aware that there are skeptical views in the U.S. on whether the North Korea-U.S. summit would succeed and if complete denuclearization of North Korea would be realized," Moon told the quasi-joint press conference held shortly before his summit with Trump, according to the pool reports.
"However, there may never been any development in history should we remain skeptical and expect failure just because we have failed before," he added.
The South Korean president was set to head home later in the day.
South Korea on Tuesday expressed regret over North Korea not allowing its journalists to visit the country and witness the dismantling of a nuclear test site slated for this week.
The Seoul government still took notice of the North seeking to hold an event to demolish the Punggye-ri site as scheduled, voicing hope that the measure could lead to a success in the much-anticipated June 12 summit between the North and the United States.
"We think it is disappointing and regrettable that (the South Korean) journalists cannot visit the North due to no follow-up measures after the North's invitation to an event for the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site to be held from May 23-25," the government said in a message issued in the name of Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon.
North Korea declined to accept the list of South Korean journalists chosen to cover the dismantling of its nuclear test site Tuesday, making it technically hard for the South Korean media to join the event scheduled for this week.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
