By Sohn JiAe 
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae

Leaders of Korea and the U.S. have vowed to work together to make a U.S.-North Korea Summit possible as scheduled for June. 

On May 22, President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump held a one-on-one meeting and then an expanded summit at the White House to reaffirm Seoul-Washington cooperation on dealing with issues concerning North Korea. 

At the meeting, President Moon Jae-in stressed that there's no need for doubt over the North's willingness to attend the Washington-Pyeongyang summit, and that there's need for concrete negotiations between the two countries to achieve denuclearization and the stability of the regime. 

“President Trump will be able to bring an end to the Korean War that has lasted over the past 65 years, and achieve complete denuclearization by making any summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un successful,” said President Moon. “I’m also sure that diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the North will be resumed and will be back to normal, as well as the establishment of permanent peace on the peninsula.” 

“It’s thanks to President Trump’s strong vision and leadership that the Washington-Pyeongyang summit has been made possible, a first in history. We’re now closer toward the dream of complete denuclearization and world peace,” he added. 

Regarding voices of concern over whether the June summit will be held or not after Pyeongyang’s recent change of attitude, President Moon believed that the summit would be taking place as planned. “My role is not to serve as a mediator between the U.S. and the North, but to help the summit to be successful and to cooperate closely with the U.S., as the outcome of the talks will have a significant impact on the fate of the peninsula and South Korea,” he stressed. 

“Obviously North Korea is the big one among the many things we're working on,” said President Trump. “We’ll see whether or not the Singapore summit happens, but if it does, that’ll be great. It’ll be a great thing for North Korea.” 

The U.S. leader went on to say that, “I have tremendous confidence in President Moon. I think he wants to have what’s good for the Korean Peninsula. Not just the North or South. For the entire Korean Peninsula. His way, the way he is, really is helping us to potentially make a deal.”

The two leaders also shared their thoughts that the leaders of South, North Korea and the U.S. would jointly declare an end to the war on the peninsula, as the leaders of the two Koreas did in the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration following the U.S.-North Korea summit. 

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