Summit Cooperation

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in talked with U.S. President Donald Trump on the phone on the 19th to discuss how to work together to make the second North Korea-U.S. summit successful. The American president expected to "see a lot of things come out" of the Hanoi summit and the South Korean asked him to use South Korea's role as a concession to North Korea's denuclearization.

[Pkg]

Last night, at 10 PM local time, Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump held a 35 minute long phone meeting. According to Cheong Wa Dae Spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom, the duo discussed ways to work together for a successful second Pyongyang-Washington summit. President Moon expects the upcoming summit to be a key turning point for complete denuclearization, settling peace on the Peninsula, and better relations between North Korea and the United States. He also asked President Trump to use Seoul's role as a concession to expedite the regime's denuclearization. More concretely, the South Korean leader highlighted, if President Trump asks, the country is willing to take up inter-Korean railway and road constructions as well as cross-border economic cooperation projects. Moon explained it was a way to lessen the burden on Washington. Trump replied that he expects to "see a lot of things come out" of the summit and that he would brief President Moon on the results as soon as his meeting with Chairman Kim is over. He even mentioned that he expects to meet President Moon to share the results. On the issue of South Korea-U.S. relations, President Trump answered that he and President Moon have been doing very well and bilateral ties has never been better. The latest phoner is the 19th one since President Moon took office and the first one in 167 days since the call made immediately before a special South Korean delegation visited Pyongyang in September. The top office stated that there is no plan for any more phone calls between the two leaders before the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi.