South Korean leader Moon Jae-In has said on Friday that Seoul will now work with both the United States and North Korea in order to help them reach to a denuclearization agreement, amid summit failure between US President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-Un over disagreement on sanctions.
According to Reuters news reports, Moon has been active to end the confrontation on the Korean peninsula, holding meetings with Kim three times last year and further trying to facilitate nuclear negotiations with Washington.
While delivering a speech in Seoul, Moon said, “My administration will closely communicate and cooperate with the United States and North Korea so as to help their talks reach a complete settlement by any means.”
He also said S Korea would consult the US on ways to resume joint projects with Pyongyang, including the Kaesong industrial complex and tourism development at Mount Kumgang, in N Korea.
The US officials said on Friday Seoul and Washignton are expected to announce they will not hold large-scale spring joint military exercise, replacing them with small-scale team.
Trump said two days of talks in Hanoi made good progress but it was important not to rush into a bad deal. He said he had walked away because of unacceptable North Korean demands.
Trump said, “Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn’t do that.”