UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (left) and President Moon Jae-in shake hands at the Seamarq hotel in Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province, on Feb. 9. Guterres is on a visit to Korea to attend the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. (Cheong Wa Dae)

By Kim Young Deok and Kim Young Shin 

President Moon Jae-in held a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Gangneung on Feb. 9. “The message of peace from the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the philosophy and spirit of the United Nations -- inclusion and solidarity -- will reach across the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia to the world,” said President Moon Jae-in. 

President Moon praised the U.N.’s endeavors to keep peace on the Korean Peninsula, such as the U.N. General Assembly’s adoption of the Olympic Truce for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and U.N. senior officials’ visit to North Korea. “We will try our best to keep the inter-Korean dialogue moving forward to solve the North’s nuclear weapons issues and to settle peace on the Korean Peninsula,” said President Moon, and asked for continued support from the U.N. 

“We carried forward with a visit to North Korea because we were confident that the PyeongChang Olympics would be Olympics of peace,” said Guterres. “The PyeongChang Winter Games will be the beginning of peace across the international society.” 

“The U.N. is paying close attention to the potential of sports to bring peace, harmony and sustainable development,” said the secretary-general. “We will closely cooperate so that the Korean government’s hard work can lead to North Korea’s denuclearization and to sustainable peace.” 

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