MOON PRAISES & UNIFICATION CHURCH (MOONIES) BLESSES
Pres. Moon praises his summit with Biden as the best one ever
Posted May. 24, 2021
South Korean President Moon Jae-in sees the South Korea-U.S. summit as one of the most successful summits ever.
Moon mentioned on social media on Saturday (local time) after his meetup with U.S. President Joe Biden, "The meeting produced the best ever outcomes. It was a better-than-expected achievement,” adding that it was the best visit with the perfect discussion part of it. The South Korean president gave a meaning to a partnership with Washington for vaccines and direct support of vaccines for South Korean military troops, saying that he was told that despite public opposition within the United States, the U.S. government put a high value on the alliance with South Korea.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea has issued welcome messages in series. "My heart is full,” Ruling party leader Song Young-gil said on Facebook on Saturday. “The summit talk brought about greater outcomes than hoped across the whole agenda items including vaccine supply, economic cooperation and bilateral partnership.” Lee Nak-yeon, the former chairman of the ruling party, assessed the removal of the missile guidelines as the best ever achievement made in the history of South Korea.
By contrast, the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) criticized that further details should have been confirmed on denuclearization strategies and vaccine supply roadmaps. Although it saw the establishment of partnership for vaccines and the supply of vaccines for the South Korean military as significant achievements, the party pointed out that it is too early to be content in self-satisfaction and narcissism in such a critical moment. Yoo Seung-min, a former lawmaker and PPP member who is regarded as a prospective presidential runner, gave critical comments on lack of details during the summit talk, explaining that it is disappointing that there is no clear strategy for the denuclearization of North Korea nor any specific pledge on vaccines.
The progressive minor Justice Party commented that despite a high hope of vaccines, the summit talk ended up with no positively sensational results. "Regrettably, Washington's comprehensive vaccine partnership did not provide specific targets to Seoul while South Korean businesses will invest 44 trillion won in the United States,” it pointed out.
Sung-Hwi Kang yolo@donga.com · Sung-Yeol Yoo ryu@donga.com The DONG-A ILBO (donga.com)
Unification minister says Moon-Biden
summit creates 'sufficient' conditions
for dialogue with N. Korea
By Yonhap
Published : May 24, 2021
Unification Minister Lee In-young (Yonhap)
Last week's summit between President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden created "sufficient" conditions needed to resume the long-stalled dialogue with North Korea, Unification Minister Lee In-young said Monday.
On Friday (US time), Moon and Biden held their first face-to-face summit in Washington and agreed to engage diplomatically with North Korea and take "pragmatic" steps to reduce tensions, while reaffirming that dialogue will be pushed based on previous agreements, including the 2018 Singapore deal between the North and the US
Biden also announced his designation of Sung Kim, former US ambassador to South Korea, as its special envoy on North Korea, a move seen as signaling that Washington is ready for dialogue with the North.
"It has become clear that dialogue will be based on the North Korea-US agreement in Singapore, which North Korea apparently has hoped for, and the US designated its top nuclear envoy for the job, which is seen as signifying its willingness for dialogue," Lee told a local radio show.
"Taking all those things into account, (the Moon-Biden summit) served as a chance to generate sufficient conditions for South Korea, North Korea and the US to create a virtuous circle of dialogue and work actively to improve their relations," he added.
In 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then US President Donald Trump held their first summit in Singapore and agreed to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from Washington.
Little progress, however, has been made since their second summit in early 2019, which fell apart as Pyongyang and Washington couldn't come to terms on denuclearization steps and sanctions relief. Inter-Korean relations have also been stalled amid stalemated nuclear talks.
The US said it reached out to North Korea in mid-February but that the reclusive nation remained unresponsive. Washington is said to have recently offered to explain the outcome of its recently concluded North Korea policy review to the North, to which Pyongyang reportedly responded by saying the offer was "well received."
Lee expressed hope that the North will decide to resume dialogue.
"When the US knocked on the door of North Korea in February, the North rejected it, but when it sought to explain the outcome of its policy review, the North did not," Lee said. "I think North Korea will look into the results of the South Korea-US summit and make some kind of decision."
As for the possibility that the North would react negatively to an agreement reached during last week's summit to lift restrictions on South Korean missiles, Lee said that the issue should be seen as having nothing to do with the North and China but as a matter of "national defense" and "missile sovereignty."
Meanwhile, Lee Jong-joo, spokesperson of the unification ministry, said that the government will do its utmost to jump-start the stalled peace process by resuming dialogue with the North based on the achievements made during last week's summit between Moon and Biden.
"We also hope that North Korea will return to the spirit of the Panmunjom Declaration and the Singapore agreement and actively respond to (offers for) dialogue and cooperation," the spokesperson added.
The Panmunjom Declaration refers to a summit agreement signed in April 2018 between the leaders of the two Koreas, which calls for cooperation to ease tensions, expand exchanges and rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. (Yonhap)
By Yonhap
Published : May 24, 2021
Unification Minister Lee In-young (Yonhap)
Last week's summit between President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden created "sufficient" conditions needed to resume the long-stalled dialogue with North Korea, Unification Minister Lee In-young said Monday.
On Friday (US time), Moon and Biden held their first face-to-face summit in Washington and agreed to engage diplomatically with North Korea and take "pragmatic" steps to reduce tensions, while reaffirming that dialogue will be pushed based on previous agreements, including the 2018 Singapore deal between the North and the US
Biden also announced his designation of Sung Kim, former US ambassador to South Korea, as its special envoy on North Korea, a move seen as signaling that Washington is ready for dialogue with the North.
"It has become clear that dialogue will be based on the North Korea-US agreement in Singapore, which North Korea apparently has hoped for, and the US designated its top nuclear envoy for the job, which is seen as signifying its willingness for dialogue," Lee told a local radio show.
"Taking all those things into account, (the Moon-Biden summit) served as a chance to generate sufficient conditions for South Korea, North Korea and the US to create a virtuous circle of dialogue and work actively to improve their relations," he added.
In 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then US President Donald Trump held their first summit in Singapore and agreed to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from Washington.
Little progress, however, has been made since their second summit in early 2019, which fell apart as Pyongyang and Washington couldn't come to terms on denuclearization steps and sanctions relief. Inter-Korean relations have also been stalled amid stalemated nuclear talks.
The US said it reached out to North Korea in mid-February but that the reclusive nation remained unresponsive. Washington is said to have recently offered to explain the outcome of its recently concluded North Korea policy review to the North, to which Pyongyang reportedly responded by saying the offer was "well received."
Lee expressed hope that the North will decide to resume dialogue.
"When the US knocked on the door of North Korea in February, the North rejected it, but when it sought to explain the outcome of its policy review, the North did not," Lee said. "I think North Korea will look into the results of the South Korea-US summit and make some kind of decision."
As for the possibility that the North would react negatively to an agreement reached during last week's summit to lift restrictions on South Korean missiles, Lee said that the issue should be seen as having nothing to do with the North and China but as a matter of "national defense" and "missile sovereignty."
Meanwhile, Lee Jong-joo, spokesperson of the unification ministry, said that the government will do its utmost to jump-start the stalled peace process by resuming dialogue with the North based on the achievements made during last week's summit between Moon and Biden.
"We also hope that North Korea will return to the spirit of the Panmunjom Declaration and the Singapore agreement and actively respond to (offers for) dialogue and cooperation," the spokesperson added.
The Panmunjom Declaration refers to a summit agreement signed in April 2018 between the leaders of the two Koreas, which calls for cooperation to ease tensions, expand exchanges and rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. (Yonhap)
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