South Korean President Moon Jae-In said Wednesday that President Donald Trump deserves credit for helping to spark talks with North Korea.
Moon thanked him for his efforts during a news conference, saying: ‘I think President Trump’s role in the realization of inter-Korean talks was very big. I would like to express my gratitude.’
This weekend, Trump himself declared that, without his own help, such talks might never have occurred.
‘If I weren’t involved, they wouldn’t be talking about the Olympics right now, they’d be doing no talking,’ Trump said at the weekend, ahead of the meeting.
South Korean President Moon Jae-In said Wednesday that President Donald Trump (pictured, Saturday) deserves credit for helping to spark talks with North Korea
Moon (pictured, Wednesday) thanked him for his efforts during a news conference, saying: ‘I think President Trump’s role in the realization of inter-Korean talks was very big. I would like to express my gratitude’
This weekend, Trump himself declared that, without his own help, such talks might never have occurred, which the North slammed, calling the idea a ‘ridiculous sophism’ (Pictured, Kim Jong-un, September 2017)
North Korea and leader Kim Jong-un, meanwhile, has slammed Trump’s claim with the ruling party newspaper calling that a ‘ridiculous sophism’ in a commentary published as the two sides started their talks on Tuesday.
‘It is very deplorable to see the US politicians boasting of their diplomatic failure as “diplomatic success”,’ it read.
Pyongyang and Seoul have been holding the first inter-Korean talks in more than two years at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, South Korea.
The meeting was aimed at diffusing tension in the region and as North and South Korea agreed to hold ‘military talks’.
The two countries announced that they would ‘resolve problems through dialogue and negotiations’ and also hold other various talks in order to improve relations.
South Korean unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon (left) shakes hands with the head of North Korean delegation Ri Son Gwon before their meeting at the Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, South Korea on Tuesday
Ri Son Gwon (center) is pictured arriving. South Korean officials say North Korea has agreed to send a delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang
South Korea’s Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung says the North made such a statement during rare talks between the rivals at the border on Tuesday (Pictured, South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, third from right, and the head of North Korean delegation Ri Son Gwon, third from left, with their delegation)
North Korea agreed to send athletes to the Winter Olympics next month, a big leap forward for the country that boycotted the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
The Games in Pyeongchang next month have long been overshadowed by geopolitical tensions, with the North launching missiles capable of reaching the US mainland in recent months and detonating by far its most powerful nuclear device to date.
‘It is only the beginning,’ Moon said during Wednesday’s press conference.
‘Yesterday was the first step and I think we had a good start.Bringing North Korea to talks for denuclearisation is the next step we must take.’
He said he willing to hold a summit ‘at any time’ as long as it was ‘under the right conditions’.
‘But it cannot be a meeting for meeting’s sake. To hold a summit, the right conditions must be created and certain outcomes must be guaranteed.’