(Unofficial translation)
Mr. President, it’s a great pleasure to meet you again three months after our last meeting. Your visit to Panmunjeom will go down as a historic moment that embodied peace through action. And I have to say that I always marvel at your imagination and bold decision making.
Thanks to your leadership, we have been able to achieve great progress in terms of inter-Korean relations, and this has also led to a dialogue between the United States and North Korea.
And soon I will be expecting the working-level negotiations between the United States and North Korea to prepare for the third summit with Chairman Kim to resume soon. And when you have your third summit with Chairman Kim, maybe, I hope that this will go down as a truly historic moment in world history. This will be a great achievement that equals a great transformation in terms of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
During the time I’ve been working together with you, the ROK-U.S. alliance has been evolving in a great way; and especially in the economic field, we have been able to revise our bilateral free trade agreement, and that has been a great success; while many Korean companies are increasing their investment in America.
During the course of my visit to New York, we will be signing the deal to increase the import of LNG energy from America, while we will also be signing a deal regarding a joint venture between a Korean motor company and an automotive vehicle company in America. So I believe that all of this will come to reinforce our already strong alliance.
Furthermore, I do look forward to engaging in candid discussions with you today on how we could truly make great progress in our alliance in other aspects as well.