President Moon: "The Declaration of the End of the War is Unrelated to US Troop Withdrawal... North Korea Has Not Closed the Door to Dialogue" (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] President Moon Jae-in raised his voice that the 'Declaration of the End of War' proposed in his keynote speech at the United Nations General Assembly is unrelated to the withdrawal of U.S. troops and that it is now time to resume dialogue with North Korea. In response to criticism that "related countries are passive about the Declaration of the End of War," he replied, "They are not passive," and emphasized that North Korea has not closed the door to dialogue either.

On the 22nd (local time), President Moon held an in-flight press conference with reporters and said, "The Declaration of the End of War was already agreed upon in the October 4th Joint Declaration of 2007 to be pursued by the three parties (South Korea, North Korea, and the U.S.) or the four parties (South Korea, North Korea, the U.S., and China)."

President Moon emphasized, "Both the U.S. and China have already agreed to the Declaration of the End of War by the three or four parties," adding, "Now that it is time to resume dialogue, I proposed the Declaration of the End of War again, and this is not the first time it has been proposed."

Regarding criticism from opposition parties and the media about the 'proposal of the Declaration of the End of War,' he dismissed it by saying, "When looking at the reactions reported in the domestic media, especially from the opposition parties, I thought they really lack understanding about the Declaration of the End of War."

President Moon explained, "The Declaration of the End of War is different from a peace treaty," and further explained that a peace treaty can only be realized when denuclearization reaches a considerably irreversible stage.

He added, "The Declaration of the End of War corresponds to the so-called entrance to negotiations on denuclearization or peace talks, and it is a kind of political declaration to end the war and enter peace negotiations," emphasizing, "Moreover, the Declaration of the End of War has nothing to do with the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea or the South Korea-U.S. alliance." This appears to be a point addressing concerns raised mainly by the opposition about the withdrawal of U.S. troops after the Declaration of the End of War.

In response to the criticism that the involved countries are passive about the Declaration of the End of War, he replied, "The related countries are not passive," and said, "Once dialogue begins between South and North Korea and between North Korea and the U.S., the issues will eventually be resolved."

Regarding bringing North Korea to the dialogue table, he said, "North Korea's various lockdown policies due to COVID-19 are making dialogue very difficult," adding, "If the dialogue gap prolongs, various crisis situations may arise again, and peace and stability could be shaken, so now is the time to quickly resume dialogue with North Korea."

President Moon assessed, "Although the future cannot be predicted, North Korea has not closed the door to dialogue," and said, "Although they recently launched missiles, they are still maintaining the moratorium on nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launches as originally promised, and they are only raising low-intensity tensions to the extent that the U.S. has not given up on dialogue."

He added, "I do not know how things will unfold in the future, but I believe that North Korea will ultimately judge that choosing the path of dialogue and diplomacy is advantageous for them," and said, "However, it is difficult to predict whether this will happen during our government or the next administration."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding whether a South-North summit could take place around the Beijing Olympics, he said, "I cannot say whether a South-North summit will be possible," but added, "However, since there is the Beijing Winter Olympics as an international occasion, I do not know if that could be used as an opportunity to improve inter-Korean relations."

When asked to share his evaluation of Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of North Korea, he said, "I have spoken about this in other settings, but I do not want to elaborate today."

President Moon evaluated that there were "considerable achievements" in vaccine diplomacy progress during this UN General Assembly. He said, "Thanks to becoming a vaccine hub, there were significant achievements not only through meetings with the Pfizer chairman but also through business tables between Korean and U.S. companies related to quarantine and vaccines," adding, "There were also achievements in increasing international cooperation on vaccines, such as vaccine swaps with the UK and vaccine donations to Vietnam."

He emphasized, "Now that we have sufficient surplus, I want to say that we are in a position to help other countries."

Regarding 'With COVID-19,' he said, "Vaccination has not yet reached the target," and predicted, "Perhaps by next month, we will be able to present such plans more visibly to the public."