President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke by telephone for 40 minutes from four o’clock this afternoon. The two leaders discussed the latest developments on the Korean Peninsula.

President Moon began by saying that he was braced for the upcoming inter-Korean summit to be held in three days. He went on to say that the success of the summit would be of immense help not only for the success of the summit between North Korea and the United States but also for the normalization of ties between Japan and North Korea, adding it would serve as an opportunity to fundamentally resolve various pending issues between Tokyo and Pyeongyang. The President asked the Japanese Prime Minister if there would be a necessity for a Japan-North Korea dialogue or summit to follow once the inter-Korean summit and the North Korea-U.S. summit turned out well.

Prime Minister Abe responded by saying that even though there are a lot of issues to be addressed between Japan and North Korea, including nuclear weapons, missiles and the abduction of Japanese nationals, the success of the inter-Korean summit and the North Korea-U.S. summit one after the other would pave the way for Japan and North Korea to take a natural course to dialogue. Prime Minister Abe continued that the success of the two summits would mean the resolution of the North’s nuclear and missile issue as well as the abduction of Japanese people. In that case, he added, it would be possible for Japan and North Korea to reach an agreement to bring closure to past issues and normalize ties predicated on the Japan-North Korean Pyeongyang Declaration.

Prime Minister Abe asked President Moon about the prospects for a declaration of the end of war and the conclusion of a peace treaty during the upcoming inter-Korean summit. In reply, President Moon noted that the declaration of the end of war could not be accomplished by an inter-Korean dialogue alone. Saying that it requires at least a trilateral agreement among the South, the North and the United States, the President added that South Korea would work closely together with the United States to create such conditions and engage in consultations with Prime Minister Abe, too.

Briefing the President on the outcome of the U.S.-Japan summit held during his visit to the United States April 17-18, Prime Minister Abe said that President Trump had promised to make his best efforts to raise the issue of Japanese abductees during the North Korea-U.S. summit and ensure their return to Japan. The Prime Minister also asked President Moon to bring up the issue at the inter-Korean summit. In response, President Moon said that he had already raised the issue with the North whenever there was a chance and that he would forward Prime Minister Abe’s position during the summit with Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jong Un of North Korea. The President went on to say that he intended to tell Chairman Kim that solving the issue of Japanese abductees would be of help in establishing peace in Northeast Asia.

President Moon promised to call Prime Minister Abe to explain the result of the inter-Korean summit after the summit on April 27.