Moon: DPRK's plan, US measures to be needed

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Moon Jae-in, president of the Republic of Korea (ROK), said on Wednesday that an action plan by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and reciprocal measures by the US will be needed to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

Moon made the remark during an interview with Russian media ahead of his state visit Thursday to Moscow for a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the presidential Blue House of the ROK.

He said the DPRK needs to offer a concrete action plan for denuclearization, while the US needs to offer comprehensive reciprocal measures to it, to eventually implement their respective proposals.

Moon Jae-in talks in an interview with Russian media, June 20, 2018. /VCG Photo

Moon said the first DPRK-US summit was a "great success" that was greater than he had expected. The DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump agreed to complete denuclearization in return for security guarantees for the DPRK.

The remaining task to do, Moon said, would be a complete, rapid implementation of the Kim-Trump agreement.

Moon said he and Putin had a shared goal of the complete denuclearization and a peace regime settlement on the Korean Peninsula, noting that when inter-Korean cooperation is resumed after the peace settlement, the two Koreas and Russia should increase trilateral economic cooperation.

The trilateral economic cooperation, Moon said, can start in the railway, natural gas and electricity sectors as those can be launched quickly and can provide economic benefits to the three countries.

Russian gas be piped to Koreas, Japan

New pipelines could be laid to bring Russian gas through the DPRK to the ROK and even on to Japan following the diplomatic thaw with Pyongyang, Moon suggested Wednesday.

Russia and the ROK agreed in 2008 to lay gas pipelines through the DPRK to bring Russian natural gas to the ROK. But the project failed to take off due to tensions over the DPRK's nuclear weapons program.

Moon Jae-in talks in an interview with Russian media, June 20, 2018. /VCG Photo

Restoring inter-Korean railroads and linking them to trans-Siberian railways would also enable overland transport from trade-dependent ROK to Europe, Moon added.

"This will bring huge economic benefits to the South (ROK) and the North (DPRK) as well as Russia," he said.

(Cover: Moon Jae-in talks in an interview with Russian media, June 20, 2018. /VCG Photo)

(With inputs from agencies)