PRESS RELEASE
Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump Press Conference: China and Russia Are Crucial
Nov. 7, 2017 (EIRNS)—Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump held a press conference in Seoul today following their summit meeting. The tone was extremely positive and relatively optimistic about the potential for resolving the North Korean crisis.
President Moon began by stating explicitly that he and Trump
"agreed to work towards resolving North Korean nuclear issue in a peaceful manner and bringing permanent peace to the Korean Peninsula."
He noted that Trump is the first U.S. President to visit South Korea in 25 years, and saying, "This special bond forged between President Trump and myself, I find it very meaningful and I am gratified to be part of it."
He said that to "maintain a strong stance toward North Korea" while proposing dialogue, that Seoul would strengthen its defenses, and agreed that the United States will "expend rotational deployment of U.S. strategic assets in and around Korean Peninsula."
In response to a question about China’s role, Moon replied that to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula,
"we would like to expand our diplomatic efforts in this regard. And that should include our efforts for China as well as [the United States] and Russia and the EU. I believe that we should diversify efforts—diplomatic efforts—so that we can pursue a more balanced approach."
He said that
"China has also faithfully implemented the UN resolution to impose sanctions on D.P.R.K. So we have heightened the pressure and sanctions on D.P.R.K., and I think this will also contribute to resolving the nuclear problem.... I believe that cooperation from the U.S. and China is essential."
President Trump also emphasized the role of China, and of Russia, as well. He said:
"I want to just say that President Xi—where we will be tomorrow, China—has been very helpful. We’ll find out how helpful soon. But he really has been very, very helpful. So China is out trying very hard to solve the problem with North Korea. We hope that Russia, likewise, will be helpful. We also hope that other countries—and we know for a fact that other countries have already started. And we’ve had great dialogue with many other countries, as you know, and they’re really helping a lot.
"So if we get China, if we get Russia—and we have some other countries, but we want to get most of them—we think that things will happen, and they could happen very quickly."
