South Korea’s Moon to push for peace talks with North

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has recently been striving for a symbolic declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in 's appeasement policy on North Korea has been divisive, with his supporters call him a peace-making mediator while his opponents accused him of helping North Korea.
Reuters

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in 's appeasement policy on North Korea has been divisive, with his supporters call him a peace-making mediator while his opponents accused him of helping North Korea.

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in has said he’ll keep striving to promote peace with North Korea through dialogue until the end of his term next May.

His statement came on Monday after Pyongyang raised animosities with a resumption of provocative weapons tests recently.

While launching a spate of newly developed weapons in recent weeks, North Korea has also slammed Washington and Seoul over what it calls hostility toward the North. 

Its actions indicate North Korea wants its rivals to ease economic sanctions against it and accept it as a legitimate nuclear state, experts say.

READ MORE: Two Koreas restore hotline despite North's missile tests

In his final policy speech at parliament, Moon said he’ll “make efforts to the end to help a new order for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula be established through dialogue and diplomacy.”

Moon, a champion of greater reconciliation with North Korea, once shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to help facilitate now-stalled nuclear diplomacy between the two countries. 

Pyongyang turned a cold shoulder on Moon after its diplomacy with Washington broke down in early 2019 amid bickering over the sanctions.

READ MORE: Seoul says North Korea tested submarine-launched ballistic missile

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