ROK to continue diplomatic efforts for DPRK-US dialogue

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea planned to continue diplomatic efforts to maintain a dialogue momentum between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States though US President Donald Trump cancelled the scheduled DPRK-US summit next month.

Baek Tai-hyun, spokesman of Seoul's unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs, told a press briefing that the country will make diplomatic efforts to keep the dialogue momentum intact.

All relevant parties made no change in their stances that issues should be resolved through dialogue, he noted.

The comment came after Trump said in a publicly disclosed letter to top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un that it was not appropriate to hold the planned DPRK-US summit on June 12 in Singapore ci

ting the tremendous anger and open hostility shown in the DPRK's recent statements.

ROK President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency meeting with his senior security and diplomatic aides, expressing deep regret over the cancelled summit.

Despite the cancellation, Trump left room for his meeting with the DPRK leader in the future saying that he looked "very much" forward to meeting Kim "some day".

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a phone conversation earlier in the day with his ROK counterpart Kang Kyung-wha, saying the US side had a firm willingness to continue dialogue with the DPRK.

Pompeo vowed to continue efforts for creating conditions for the DPRK-US dialogue. In response, Kang said Seoul and Washington should make all-out efforts to maintain the hard-won opportunity for dialogue with the DPRK.

The DPRK also opened a door to the resumed dialogue with the US side. According to the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency, First Vice Foreign Minister of the DPRK Kim Kye-gwan said his country was ready to sit down for talks with Washington anytime.

The first vice foreign minister said Trump's decision does not conform to the international community's aspiration for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the whole world.

Meanwhile, the ROK will continue to consider a resumption of high-level talks with the DPRK to implement the Panmunjom Declaration, which the leaders of the two countries signed and announced after the April 27 summit at the border village of Panmunjom, according to the Seoul's unification ministry.

Under the Panmunjom Declaration, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to complete denuclearization and the turn of the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty by the end of this year. The Korean Peninsula remains technically in a state of war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with armistice.

The two sides had agreed to hold senior-level dialogue last week in Panmunjom, but the DPRK called it off at the last minute citing the ROK-US joint annual air combat exercises, called Max Thunder.

The Max Thunder reportedly mobilized about 100 aircrafts, including eight US F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets that are used to secretly attack an enemy target.

Moon, the ROK president, said the inter-Korean talks between senior-level officials could be resumed after the Max Thunder ends on Friday.

Cho Myoung-gyon, the ROK's unification minister, told local reporters that the DPRK seemed to have made no change in its sincerity to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and build peace.

Cho said he would examine the resumed high-level talks between the two Koreas from a broader perspective.