통일부 "우리의 목표는 완전한 비핵화(CVID)... 북한, 협상의지 보여줘"
As we count the days, hours and minutes to the historic event, Seoul's unification ministry announced everything is going according to plan.
Adding, as the ultimate goal should be denuclearization... the ministry highlighted, discussions on building peace on the peninsula would be meaningless without it.
Oh Jung-hee tells us more.
Building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula can't happen by itself without an agreement on denuclearization.
That's what a high-level official from South Korea's unification ministry told reporters on Tuesday.
He said Seoul's goal is to achieve complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
He said it's too early to tell if a peace treaty could be reached at the summit, but it could be discussed as one of the points of the summit's agenda... along with lowering tensions at the border and taking confidence building measures.
The need for another round of high-level talks or visit by an envoy to the North before the summit seems low,... as the official says preparations are currently going well at the working-level.
The unification ministry said Pyongyang showed a willingness to negotiate on denuclearization through Saturday's announcement -- to halt nuclear and missile tests... and shut down the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
As to why the North's behavior is so different from last year,... he said the reasons are complex... but suggested internal changes within the regime, the impact of international sanctions, and the Moon administration's efforts to mend inter-Korean relations... could all have played a part.
Because the denuclearization process is to be tackled at the Washington-Pyongyang summit,... Seoul reiterated its goal is to lay the groundwork through the inter-Korean summit.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.
