SEOUL, June 20. /TASS/. The results of the US-North Korea summit in Singapore earlier this month have surpassed all expectations, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said ahead of his state visit to Russia beginning on Thursday.
"The results of the summit turned out to be impressive," the South Korean leader said in his exclusive interview to TASS First Deputy Director-General Mikhail Gusman for TASS, government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta and the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
"The North Korean-US standoff has lasted for 70 years. Now it’s the time for those two nations to renounce hostility. A new historic moment, when we can establish the system of solid peace in the region, opens before us," he said, adding that the results of the summit have surpassed all expectations.
According to the South Korean leader, Pyongyang and Washington should now immediately fulfill these agreements. "Now talks are underway at a working level between the South and the North, between South Korea and the United states, and measures on implementing these agreements are being drawn up. After the summit the North said it was ready for full denuclearization, and the US confirmed its readiness to provide security guarantees for Pyongyang," he noted.
"The North and the South stopped broadcasting propaganda on the border, South Korea and the US temporarily put off joint military drills, and now a peace process is underway. Such peaceful steps may lay the foundation to further bolster dialogue between the parties concerned," the president stressed.
"I call all the parties concerned to implement these measures as soon as possible. North Korea should take certain steps, and the US should provide comprehensive security guarantees," he said.
The historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump took place at the Capella Hotel on Singapore’s Sentosa Island on June 12. The parties signed a joint document, in which Pyongyang made a commitment to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula in return for US security guarantees. Trump pledged to meet Pyongyang’s demand to halt joint military drills with South Korea.
The US leader noted that he had not discussed with Kim Jong-un the issue of sending US troops to South Korea, where some 28,500 US forces have been deployed.
The resolve for denuclearization
At the inter-Korean summit in late April North Korean leader Kim Jong-un showed the resolve for denuclearization and the readiness to give up the nuclear program provided that there are security guarantees, Moon Jae-in said.
"During the summit, Chairman Kim Jong-un showed his firm resolve for North Korea’s denuclearization. He said that he can abandon all nuclear programs if he receives the guarantees of security and preserving his regime. He also showed great interest in his country’s economic development," Moon Jae-in said in his exclusive interview to TASS First Deputy Director-General Mikhail Gusman for TASS, government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta and the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
Moon Jae-in stressed that the Panmunjom Declaration adopted at the summit confirmed "the will of the leaders of the North and the South to achieve peace, stability and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula."
On April 27, North Korean and South Korean leaders, Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, met in the border village of Panmunjom for a historic summit, the first in more than a decade. They signed a joint Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula. Seoul and Pyongyang reaffirmed that their common objective is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and reached an agreement on continuing active top-level dialogue.