President Moon Jae-in met with a U.S. delegation led by Vice President Mike Pence at Cheong Wa Dae today. They consulted on issues of mutual interest, including measures to reinforce the ROK-U.S. alliance.

Noting the strongest-ever ROK-U.S. alliance, President Moon said that Vice President Pence’s visit to Korea to celebrate the PyeongChang Winter Olympics would serve as another opportunity, following President Trump’s state visit last November, to reaffirm the ironclad alliance and solidarity of peoples in the two countries. 

President Moon said that, through firm principles and close cooperation, Korea and the United States made it possible to prompt North Korea to engage in inter-Korean talks and participate in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. He expressed the hope that, by making the most of this momentum, the ongoing inter-Korean dialogue would lead to a resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue and settlement of peace on the Korean Peninsula. To this end, he added, multipronged efforts to sustain talks would be necessary.

President Moon and Vice President Pence reconfirmed the principle of bringing the North back to a dialogue for denuclearization through maximum sanctions and pressure, which had been repeatedly underscored so far. They agreed to continue to work together to this end.  

The Vice President conveyed President Trump`s message expressing his best regards to President Moon and his country`s full support, as an allied nation, for a successful and safe hosting of the PyeongChang Olympics. Reconfirming his country`s unwavering commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea, Vice President Pence expressed his agreement over President Moon`s evaluation that the ROK-U.S. alliance remained as strong as ever.

Vice President Pence noted that the two countries were having closer bilateral communications and cooperation than ever before for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Then, the U.S. Vice President proposed to continue related consultations and collaboration at various levels in the months to come.   

The meeting between the two was their second, the first being the luncheon at the White House hosted by the Vice President during President Moon’s visit to the United States in June 2017. Their conversation was conducted in a comfortable and earnest atmosphere and became an opportunity to further deepen mutual trust and understanding through communications between the top leaders of the two countries.