S. KOREA-EGYPT SUMMIT

[Anchor Lead]

At a recent ROK-Egypt summit, the South Korean and Egyptian leaders agreed to work together to close a deal for the K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzer. President Moon Jae-in also said in an interview with a local news agency that building peace on the Korean peninsula doesn’t appear to be easy under the current circumstances.

[Pkg]

President Moon Jae-in is the second South Korean leader to visit Egypt and the first since 2006. In a summit with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the South Korean president agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in such areas as transportation infrastructure and national defense. But there was no news of a highly anticipated export contract of the K9 self-propelled rockets. In a joint press announcement held immediately after the summit, however, President Moon said that the two leaders agreed that the ongoing negotiations for a contract would produce a successful outcome in defense industry cooperation and become a model of mutual trust.

[Soundbite] Moon Jae-in(President) : "We agreed that the K9 self-propelled rockets will contribute to strengthening the Egyptian military’s capabilities and become a model of mutual cooperation. We agreed to work towards completing the export deal."

During the state luncheon that followed, the two leaders each called Korean Minister of Defense Acquisition Kang Eun-ho and Egypt’s Military Production Minister Mohamed Ahmed Morsi and ordered them to hold additional negotiations, according to Cheong Wa Dae's key official. Accordingly, the two sides are working out detailed terms and conditions. Meanwhile, President Moon admitted in an interview with a local newspaper that given the current circumstances, building peace on the Korean peninsula doesn’t appear to be easy. The president explained that the road to peace hasn’t been institutionalized as if he had the end-of-war declaration in mind. He nonetheless emphasized that he would try his best to build peace until the last moment of his presidency. President Moon returns to Korea tomorrow morning after visiting a local plant built by a Korean company.