Seoul to strengthen cooperation with Tokyo: Moon

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - Seoul will push for strengthening cooperation with Japan in the upcoming days, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Friday.

Addressing a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Korean independence movement, Moon said the regime will create a “peaceful order in the coming century in which we will take on a leading role”, according to South Korea’s news agency Yonhap.

Korean peninsula got independence from Japanese colonial rule in late 1940s after which a war ensued and the region got divided into South and North Koreas influenced by Western and Russian blocs, respectively.

New Korean Peninsula regime will “prepare for unification” and “be a community for peaceful and economic cooperation that breaks with the country's checkered history of conflict and ideological divide,” he said.

The statement came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi for a second summit on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula though the two leaders exited the meeting without signing any deal.

Moon said that role of Seoul in U.S.-North Korea denuclearization talks became even "more important".

"Importantly, they even discussed the issue of installing liaison offices, an important step toward the normalization of bilateral ties. I have high regard for President Trump, who has expressed his commitment to continuing talks and optimistic views," he said.

“The new community of peace and cooperation will end confrontations and conflicts,” Moon, who is said to have played a major role in bringing together Trump and Kim, said.

Pledging that his regime will “strengthen cooperation with Tokyo”, Yonhap quoted Moon as saying: “The 1919 landmark statement issued by 33 leading independence fighters was not driven by enmity but was designed to promote the harmonious co-existence of all humankind.”

“We will establish a permanent peace regime without fail on the basis of our unwavering will, close ROK-U.S. coordination, a settlement in North Korea-U.S. talks and support from the international community.”

“When there is progress in denuclearization, an inter-Korean economic committee will be established to produce economic achievements that benefit the two Koreas,” he said.

"My administration will closely communicate and cooperate with the United States and North Korea so as to help their talks reach a complete settlement by any means," Moon concluded.