South Korean President Moon Jae-in says Seoul could consider suspending joint military exercises with the United States if inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. talks continue to progress in a satisfactory manner.
His comments,... come just two days after the U.S. President Donald Trump danced around the idea of halting the "war games" in the region.
Cha Sang-mi reports.
Should North Korea carry out genuine measures towards denuclearization and continue to engage in faithful talks with South Korea and the U.S., South Korean President Moon Jae-in is willing to carefully review the South Korea, U.S. Joint military exercises.
That's according to a statement released by the president's spokesperson following a meeting of the National Security Council chaired by President Moon himself on Thursday.
Based on the trust-building principles agreed upon by the leaders of the two Koreas stated in the Panmunjom Declaration, South Korea's commander in chief said... there needs to be flexible changes to ease military pressure against North Korea.
This comes on the heels of the U.S. President Trump's comment on the suspension of the joint military drills earlier this week and after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to the Blue House to meet President Moon Thursday morning.
At the NSC meeting, the first to be chaired by the president this year, the South Korean president heralded the leaders of North Korea and the United States on their decision to establish a new era of Pyongyang-Washington ties.
"Above all, it is important that the two sides together perceived that ending their military tensions and hostility through the establishment of a new North Korea-U.S. relationship is the only path to bringing peace to the Korean peninsula. Now, the two Koreas and the U.S. are all on the same page when it comes to achieving complete denuclearization and prosperity of the Korean peninsula"
President Moon called on his foreign and security officials to lay out details of the denuclearization roadmap, so that the process can be carried out accordingly.
"We will have to take a hopeful step forward to get out of the frame of armistice regime since 1953, and promote balanced inter-Korean development and go further to establish common prosperity in Northeast Asia."
Referring to the resumption of inter-Korean cooperation and exchanges, President Moon called for bold and innovative ways to connect not only the two Koreas but to connect the South... through the North... into Central Asia all the way to Europe.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.
