President Moon Jae-in (second from left) says he will concentrate on establishing permanent peace between South and North Korea through the2018 Inter-Korean Summit Pyeongyang. He presided over a Cabinet meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 17, one day before the summit. (Cheong Wa Dae).

President Moon Jae-in (second from left) says he will concentrate on establishing permanent peace between South and North Korea through the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit Pyeongyang. He presided over a Cabinet meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 17, one day before the summit. (Cheong Wa Dae).

By Pyeongyang Press Corps

President Moon Jae-in expressed his commitment to remove the fear of war because of military confrontation and to narrow the gap between Pyeongyang and Washington in the upcoming inter-Korean summit in Pyeongyang. He will have the third inter-Korean summit of 2018 with North Korea’s Chairman of State Affairs Commission Kim Jong Un that will run from Sept. 18 to 20.

In a Cabinet meeting on Sept. 17, one day before leaving for the summit, President Moon said he will “concentrate on working toward the establishment of permanent peace between South and North Korea.”

“Peace is what I want to achieve,” said President Moon.

“Creating a regime of permanent peace is the only way for the two Koreas to become true leaders in dealing with Korean Peninsula issues without being affected by international politics, and the only way that will guide us along a path toward business co-prosperity and ultimate unification,” he said.

President Moon emphasized the removal of the fear of war as a top priority for the upcoming talks.

He said, “I will focus on getting rid of the tension and the possibility of armed conflict due to military confrontation between the two Korea, and removing the fear of war, as priority tasks.”

The president also said that he will “promote dialogue between Pyeongyang and Washington on denuclearization.” President Moon added that he will have candid talks with Chairman Kim about how to find a middle ground between the requests of the U.S., which calls for North Korea to take immediate denuclearization measures, and the North, which urges Washington to end the hostile relationship and to take corresponding measures to guarantee the security of the regime.

President Moon emphasized the importance of the summit between North Korea and the U.S., saying that, “I believe that if the two leaders meet face-to-face again, it would accelerate denuclearization.”

“The most important thing for both leaders is to remove any lingering distrust between each other, and to put themselves into their counterparts’ shoes.”

“Now we have entered a new era of inter-Korean relations,” said the president.

President Moon underlined the importance of building trust between the two Koreas in order to implement the agreements reached by the two sides step-by-step, and to substantially develop inter-Korean ties.

arete@korea.kr