Description
President Moon met separately on Thursday with top diplomats from the United States and Japan.The sessions were held to exchange views on the results of the historic Pyongyang-Washington summit.Hwang Hojun reports. Less than 48 hours since the Kim-Trump summit in Singapore, and President Moon has started what's being called his "post-Singapore diplomacy," meeting with the top diplomats of Washington and Tokyo.On Thursday morning, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with President Moon to brief him directly on the summit results. According to the Blue House,... President Moon congratulated the U.S. on the successful summit with North Korea as he greeted Pompeo,... who himself played a key role in making that meeting happen... with his trips to Pyongyang. He noted that there are mixed evaluations of the joint agreement signed between President Trump and Kim Jong-un,... but said the doubters are out of touch with popular sentiment,... referring to the ruling parties' landslide win in yesterday's local election.He called the joint agreement (quote) "a great historic achievement." "The summit results helped the international community, not to mention the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, find relief from the threats of war, nuclear weapons, and long-range missiles. That alone is an extremely valuable achievement." Pompeo, in return, said the Singapore summit was a huge first step and that Seoul and Washington need to closely cooperate to bring about better results in the future,.... and ultimately establish lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.In fact, he asked President Moon to play a leading role in North Korea's denuclearization. "He asked President Moon to closely communicate with Chairman Kim Jong-un in the process of developing inter-Korean relations and in the denuclearization of the North, in view of President Moon and Chairman Kim's amicable relationship." Moon and Pompeo agreed that the most important thing is to ensure that the U.S. and North Korean commitments are carried out quickly and completely. Also, they agreed that Seoul, Pyongyang, and Washington could collaborate on recovering the remains of those killed in the Korean War and of those who are still missing. On Thursday afternoon, President Moon Jae-in met with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.According to the Blue House, the South Korean leader shared detailed results of the two inter-Korean summits and the Pyongyang-Washington summit.They discussed how to go about negotiations with Pyongyang... post-Singapore... through close cooperation between South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. President Moon wanted not only to go over the outcomes of the historic dialogue in Singapore, but also to seek future-oriented bilateral cooperation with South Korea's neighbors,... and to make sure the declaration made by President Trump and Kim Jong-un becomes a turning point in the establishment of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.Hwang Hojun, Arirang News.