For peace in Korean Peninsula, Seoul bats for resumption of talks between Pyongyang and US

Seoul: South Korea has stressed the need for resuming talks between the United States and North Korea to resolve the issues pertaining to Korean Peninsula, reports Yonhap News Agency (YNA).

“We will seek various ways to create a venue for the resumption of North Korea-US dialogue,” YNA quoted South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, as saying.

The Foreign Minister said this during the National Security Council (NSC) meeting, summoned by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to discuss future steps after US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un abruptly ended their Hanoi Summit last week.

“The second North Korea-US summit, though it is very disappointing in its result, was a chance to confirm the very meaningful progress that has been made through dialogue between the two countries,” Moon said at the NSC meeting held at his office, Cheong Wa Dae, on Monday, reported Al Jazeera.

Insisting that the US and North Korea will eventually reach an agreement, the Cheong Wa Dae said: “I believe North Korea-US negotiations will reach an agreement in the end, but I ask you to work for an early resumption of working-level dialogue between the two because we do not want the stalemate to be prolonged.”

President Trump and Kim Jong-un met in Hanoi on February 27 and 28 with hopes of signing a deal that sees Pyongyang stop missile testing and getting economic sanctions in return. However, “no agreement was reached” as the summit was abruptly concluded, and a signing ceremony, as well as working lunch, was cancelled.

North Korea had sought partial relief in sanctions at the summit in Vietnam, according to Pyongyang’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho. The US, however, has held on to its stand to ease sanctions only when the complete denuclearization is reached.

Despite this, US President Trump tweeted that he had “very substantive negotiations” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after the culmination of his visit to Vietnam.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]