International Envoys

[Anchor Lead]

South Korean envoys to the four major nations have begun their activities in earnest. They met with the leaders of the four respective nations to deliver letters from President Moon Jae-in and discuss diplomatic issues.

[Pkg]

President Moon Jae-in's special envoy, Hong Seok-hyun, arrived in Washington. Hong's first order of business was to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House to deliver a letter from President Moon. Hong said that president Trump expressed his high expectations for the upcoming summit with President Moon slated for June.

[Soundbite] Hong Seok-hyun(Special Presidential Envoy to U.S.) : "President Trump said he looks forward to producing results on North Korea's nuclear issue by cooperating closely with President Moon."

President Trump also said that although he would not have dialogue with Pyongyang just for the sake of dialogue, he was willing to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula when conditions are right. Special envoy Moon Hee-sang met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday morning. He too delivered a letter from President Moon and introduced the new administration's Japan policies.

[Soundbite] Moon Hee-sang(Special Presidential Envoy to Japan) : "I made it clear that the majority of the South Korean public finds the agreement on the former sex slaves of the Japanese army to be unacceptable."

The two sides have agreed to cooperate in responding to North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. They also agreed to hold a bilateral summit in the near future. Meanwhile, special envoy Lee Hae-chan will visit Beijing on Thursday to have dinner with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday morning.