President Moon Jae-in, who is making an official working visit to the United States, met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton in the morning on May 22 (local time) at Blair House in Washington D.C., the President’s Guest House. President Moon called upon them to do their best to make a historic North-Korea-United States summit slated for June 12 a success. 

At the 50-minute meeting that was longer than originally scheduled, President Moon complimented the U.S. foreign and security policy team on their hard work in preparing for the forthcoming summit. The President asked the U.S. officials to accelerate preparations during the remaining days for the success of the summit.

President Moon particularly emphasized that despite the attitude the North has recently shown, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jong Un had an unequivocal will for the success of the North Korea-U.S. summit and urged them to remain committed to preparing for the summit in an unwavering and poised manner. 

The President added that positive developments on the Korean Peninsula provided an unprecedented window of opportunity, which had not to be missed under any circumstances; South Korea and the United States have a chance to change the course of history on the Peninsula, thereby paving the way for the denuclearization and settlement of permanent peace.    

President Moon pointed out that many had a skeptical view that people who were involved in negotiations with North Korea over the past 25 years had been deceived by the North. The President stressed, however, it would be entirely different from past negotiations as this time they were negotiating with North Korea’s supreme leader who had declared complete denuclearization for the first time in history and hoped for regime security and economic development.  

President Moon went on to say that negotiations with North Korea would be the most difficult journey going forward and that we would have to contemplate with a lot of patience. Then, he asked Secretary of State Pompeo and National Security Advisor Bolton to assist President Trump well so that he could surmount such a difficult process and make a historic achievement that would open a new era of hope in the world.