North Korea’s Kim Jong-un calls for more peace talks with South’s Moon Jae-in in letter
- Kim also said he regretted not visiting Seoul by the end of the year, as promised in September
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday calling for more peace talks between the leaders in the new year following their active engagement in 2018.
Moon described the letter as “warmly-worded” and thanked Kim for it in a Facebook post. Moon said the North Korean leader noted that the two Koreas have escaped from the danger of war and “established ties of harmony and trust that are irreversible”.
“[Kim] has expressed his willingness to actively carry out agreements reached at the inter-Korean summits and the US-North Korea summit,” Moon continued.
“Chairman Kim said he wants to meet [with me] frequently in the new year again in order to discuss practical issues related with peace and prosperity and the issue of denuclearisation. I heartily welcome this.”
While the Blue House did not fully disclose Kim’s letter, Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Kim Jong-un expressed regret that he could not make a planned visit to Seoul, South Korea’s capital, by the end of December as pledged by the leaders during their last summit in September in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
Through three summits between Moon and Kim this year, the Koreas agreed to a variety of goodwill gestures and vowed to resume economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end to allow such activity.
