Moon hopes stalled N.K. nuke diplomacy will pick up from Singapore Declaration

SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in on Monday expressed hope for the stalled diplomacy on North Korea's denuclearization to move forward from the agreement reached in the Singapore summit between Washington and Pyongyang.

"The Singapore Declaration achieved under the Trump administration was a very important declaration in terms of denuclearization and establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula," Moon said during a New Year's press conference held at Cheong Wa Dae, referring to the agreement produced from the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore in June 2018.

Moon added, "I believe we could speed up the North Korea-U.S. dialogue and inter-Korean talks if we negotiate ways to achieve more concrete steps by starting again from the Singapore Declaration."

The president said he believes the imminent launch of the new U.S. administration under President-elect Joe Biden has provided a "turning point to restart Washington-Pyongyang and inter-Korean dialogue."

Moon also stressed the importance of Seoul's relationship with Beijing and said his government will work to invite Chinese President Xi Jinping to South Korea as soon as the pandemic stabilizes and other conditions are arranged.

"The South Korea-China relationship is very important. (China) is our country's largest trading partner and is in a relationship in which we have to cooperate to move forward the Korean Peninsula's peace," Moon said.

odissy@yna.co.kr
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