Moon says both Koreas and the U.S. will never go back to the past

“Together with U.S. President Donald Trump, I will find ways to establish peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, an aspiration of people at home and abroad,” President Moon Jae-in said at a meeting with his top aides on Monday. “We will never and cannot go back to the past.”

President Moon made the remarks 10 days before the scheduled summit with President Trump, showing his willingness to resume Washington-Pyongyang nuclear negotiations through “top-down” diplomacy.

“There have been temporary difficulties in advancing peace on the Korean Peninsula due to the collapse of the second U.S.-North Korea summit, but it has been clearly confirmed that South and North Koreas and the U.S. all do not want to go back to the past,” President Moon also said, expressing his wish to see North Korea respond to the efforts being made by South Korea and the U.S.

“The upcoming South Korea-U.S. summit is the result of the our government’s consistent policy of moving forward with the peace process on the Korean Peninsula and President Trump’s firm determination to continue talks to reach an agreement with North Korea,” Moon added.

“There have been attempts to drive a wedge between South Korea and the U.S. and derail our efforts to bring peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Moon said. “They are discontent with our efforts to engage in talks and wish to go back to the past era of conflict and confrontation.”

His remarks seem to be targeting at the opposition parties and some Korean and U.S. diplomatic experts, who have been denouncing North Korea’s lack of commitment to denuclearize and discord between South Korea and the U.S. since the failed Hanoi summit.


weappon@donga.com