SEOUL/MOSCOW -- President Moon Jae-in had a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday in the wake of the inter-Korean summit and shared a common understanding that they need to have trilateral economic cooperation with North Korea to promote peace, the presidential office said.
In their 35-minute talks over the phone, Moon gave credit to Russia's support for the success of the inter-Korean summit held last Friday. Moon called for Putin's continued backing for Seoul's diplomacy with North Korea, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.
The Russian president lauded the outcome of the summit between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and said it will lay a solid ground for building lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. "An inter-Korean summit outcome like this one is not something that happens frequently. A very difficult task has been completed in the very complex situation of the Korean Peninsula," the spokesman quoted Putin as saying.
President Moon Jae-in (left) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Yonhap
He also raised the importance of the two countries having trilateral economic cooperation with North Korea as a way to secure and cement peace between the two Koreas.
"The result of the inter-Korean summit needs to lead to three-way cooperative projects of South and North Korea and Russia," Putin was quoted as saying. "If Russia's railway, gas and electricity are connected to Siberia via the Korean Peninsula, they will help bring peace and stability on the peninsula."
Moon took the comment affirmatively, adding, "I would like the three countries to start joint research into (possible) three-nation cooperative projects," according to his spokesman Kim.
The spokesman said "the two leaders formed a common understanding that such trilateral cooperation could help build a security regime for Northeast Asia, which again needs to be expanded as a multilateral security system."
During the phone conversation, Putin also invited Moon to visit Moscow in June, the spokesman added.
Moon and Kim agreed during the third inter-Korean summit held on the South Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom last week that they will replace a Korean War truce with a peace treaty and work toward the complete denuclearization of the peninsula, pledges which, if they come true, would fundamentally resolve deep-rooted security issues in the region.
The Kremlin also issued its press release on the Moon-Putin talks, saying, "President Moon gave a detailed briefing on the result of the talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom."
The presidents "positively" assessed the agreement from the inter-Korean summit known as the Panmunjom Declaration and gave their attention to the commitment in the declaration to attaining the status of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, according to the Russian release.
It also reaffirmed Putin's support for trilateral cooperative infrastructure and energy projects with the two Koreas for the sake of establishing solid cooperation between the South and the North.
The Russian president stressed the importance of all the countries concerned continuing their efforts to resolve security issues on the peninsula in a diplomatic and political manner, it also said. (Yonhap)
