Moon urges immediate resumption of North Korea/US talks

SEOUL - South Korea's President, Moon Jae-in, is urging the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. to immediately hold a face-to-face meeting to resolve issues involving the North.

Speaking during a television interview in Seoul, Moon said he believed that the latest test firing by North Korea of what was believed to be short-range missiles did not violate the inter-Korean military agreement reached on Septembver 19 last year, since the drill took place outside the Demilitarized Zone and the Military Demarcation Line. 
The President did, however, warn Pyeongyang by saying: "If North Korea continues such behaviour, it will make the ongoing effort toward dialogue and negotiation more difficult." 
Moon also presented his idea of achieving the goal of denuclearisation.

Both the North and the U.S. should hold talks as soon as possible, he said, since this was the only method that would produce the ultimate resolution to all issues.

In this regard, he said, Seoul was making all-out efforts to resume dialogue between Pyeongyang and Washington.
Moon also spoke of a private conversation he had with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, during their inter-Korean summit on April 27 last year. 
"Chairman Kim clearly expressed his commitment to denuclearisation in an extremely honest manner," the President said, recalling their talks on the footbridge in the South Korean section of the United Nations truce village of Panmunjeom.
Moon said Kim had also asked him for advice on how to prepare for the first bilateral summit between the North and the U.S.  www.korea.kr (ATI).