South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un shared the need to speed up the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and peace settlement, the presidential Blue House of South Korea said Friday.
Kim Eui-keum, spokesman for President Moon, told a press briefing that the leaders of the two Koreas shared the need to expedite the peninsula's denuclearization and the peace regime establishment, saying the United States is anticipated to take measures tantamount to it.
The comment came after Moon's special envoys visited Pyongyang Wednesday to deliver Moon's letter to the DPRK leader and set a date for the third Moon-Kim summit, which the two sides agreed to hold for three days from Sept. 18 in the DPRK's capital city.
Kim reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to the complete denuclearization of the peninsula during his meeting with the special envoys, expressing his hope to realize the denuclearization and improve DPRK-U.S. relations within U.S. President Donald Trump's tenure.
The Blue House spokesman said President Trump and U.S. policymakers were expected to take measures as South Korea conveyed the DPRK's message to the U.S. side.
The spokesman said the declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War has been in the process of being made, citing the special envoys' visit to Pyongyang, the upcoming Moon-Kim summit and the expected South Korea-U.S. summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month.
President Moon said he aimed to make an "irreversible advance" in denuclearizing the peninsula and building peace by the end of this year, noting that it would be better to make the war-ending declaration in 2018, the year marking the 65th anniversary of the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The peninsula remains in a technical state of war as the fratricidal war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
