Return from SE Asia Trip

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in has wrapped up his eight-day tour of three Southeast Asian countries and returned to Korea. The South Korean leader says that the trip served as an opportunity to broaden Korea's diplomatic horizons to Southeast Asia and restore its relations with China.

[Pkg]

In a meeting with local Koreans in the Philippines, which was the final leg of his Southeast Asian tour, President Moon Jae-in said that his pledge to promote exchanges with ASEAN countries to the same level as with Korea's four major partners was welcomed by each nation, and that his trip had helped broaden Korea's diplomatic horizons.

[Soundbite] Pres. Moon Jae-in : "I have laid a stepping stone for expanding economic exchanges to the ASEAN region and India, and for building a multilateral security system."

Moon stressed that his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his Southeast Asia tour has paved the way for the normalization of bilateral ties with China and for boosting the economy. President Moon also held a briefing with the group of journalists who accompanied him on his tour. He said that the positioning of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system was not a political decision and that it was carried out in line with due procedure. He added that the final deployment requires an environmental impact assessment.

[Soundbite] Pres. Moon Jae-in : "We decided to temporarily position the THAAD system, because the national security situation was very grave and we had no time to conduct a proper environmental impact assessment."

Regarding U.S. President Donald Trump's remark on the South Korea-U.S. alliance as part of the multilateral security cooperation linking the Indo-Pacific region, President Moon said that Seoul has yet to find out more about the matter, which was brought up for the first time at the latest South Korea-U.S. summit. When asked if he could propose the suspension of Korea-U.S. joint military exercises if North Korea freezes and discards its nuclear program, Moon emphasized that he would leave the door open for every possibility as long as Pyongyang agrees to return to the negotiating table. But he added that right now is the time for stepping up sanctions and pressure. After wrapping up his eight-day tour to Southeast Asia, President Moon has returned to Korea.