Moon Jae-in hopes for further easing of military tensions on Korean Peninsula

SEOUL, June 26. /TASS/. President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in intends to continue working to achieve further easing of military tensions on the border with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, he shared his vision of the prospects for settling the situation on the Korean Peninsula in a joint interview for TASS and other world news agencies. Speaking of the steps planned for this year to de-escalate the tensions, Moon Jae-in pointed out that they will be carried out on two tracks. "One through denuclearization linked to North Korea-U.S. talks and the other through the alleviation of military tension caused by conventional weapons, a task for both Koreas," the President underlined. He pointed out that the signing of the Pyongyang Joint Declaration in September 2018 by the leaders of the two Koreas laid foundation for the process of de-escalation. According to him, since then both South and North Koreas "have completely stopped hostile acts in areas along the Military Demarcation Line, demilitarized the Joint Security Area, withdrawn guards posts from the DMZ, exhumed the remains of war dead and surveyed waterways for the joint use of the Han River estuary." Moon Jae-in believes that the inter-Korean agreement in the military sphere is especially important for the process of denuclearization because it sharply reduces possibilities of accidental military clashes between the two Koreas. "Thereby, creating an environment conducive to dialogue concerning denuclearization. It can also be said that, thanks to this agreement, the North's firing of short-range missiles [in early May] has neither led to a sudden hike in tensions on the Korean Peninsula nor a breakdown of the denuclearization dialogue," he said. According to the South Korean leader, honoring the military agreement by both sides will help them to build up mutual trust, reach better transparency in the military sphere, exchange pertinent information and observe military drills and exercises. "Furthermore, in line with progress in denuclearization, we will be able to advance to the point of disarming threatening weapons such as the long-range North Korean artillery targeting our capital Seoul and the short-range missiles that both Koreas possess," Moon Jae-in concluded. Read more