Moon says Biden-Kim summit is 'matter of time'

All News 10:30 February 10, 2022

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in said Thursday he believes U.S. President Joe Biden and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet eventually to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program despite an ongoing impasse between the two countries.

Moon made the remark in a written interview with Yonhap News Agency and seven other news wire services from around the world, saying the Biden administration has repeatedly expressed its commitment to reengaging the North in dialogue.

"Since dialogue is the only way to resolve problems, a meeting between President Biden and Chairman Kim is expected to take place eventually. It is just a matter of time," Moon said.

"President Biden has repeatedly expressed his willingness to actively engage in talks to resolve North Korea issues," he added. "The U.S. is also making practical efforts to contact North Korea while consistently emphasizing that the issue of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula is one of the priorities of his administration's foreign policy and that the United States is ready to meet North Korea anytime, anywhere without preconditions."

President Moon Jae-in is photographed after taking part in a written interview with Yonhap News Agency and seven other news services from around the world at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

U.S.-North Korea talks have stalled since a second summit between then U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim ended without a deal in Hanoi in February 2019.

Moon objected to the notion that Biden has returned to the Obama administration policy of "strategic patience" in dealing with the North, saying the U.S. president "continues to make practical efforts to resume dialogue."

Biden also demonstrated his willingness and readiness to resume talks with the North by appointing a special representative for the North, Ambassador Sung Kim, following his summit with Moon in Washington last May, the president said.

"The Biden Administration's North Korea policy is a result of close cooperation with my Administration, and we greatly welcome and support this very pragmatic and realistic approach aimed at denuclearization and institutionalization of peace on the Peninsula which arose from an objective assessment of the collapse of the summit in Hanoi," he said.

"If North Korea-U.S. talks resume and the leaders of the United States and North Korea hold a historic summit once again, I expect and hope that -- unlike in Hanoi -- substantive progress toward denuclearization of the Peninsula, the establishment of a peace regime and normalization of North Korea-U.S. relations will be made."