President Moon Jae-in said Sunday that he could give North Korea's Kim Jong-un a tour of Mount Halla, South Korea's tallest mountain, on the southern island of Jeju, if the leader comes for a visit.
Moon made the remarks in response to a reporter's question about what he would show Kim should the communist leader reciprocate his own visit to Pyongyang last month for the third inter-Korean summit aimed at fostering inter-Korean rapprochement and cooperation.
"As we have an expression like 'from Mount Paekdu to Mount Halla,' I could give him a tour of Mount Halla if (he) wants," Moon said during talks with reporters after climbing up to a peak of Mount Bukak just behind the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul.
"(But) we haven't yet made a concrete schedule ... so we have not planned anything," he added.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in (second from right) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un holding hands at Mount Paekdu, September 20, 2018(Yonhap)
During his visit to the North last month, Moon and Kim climbed Mount Paekdu, the highest mountain on the Korean Peninsula, in a symbolic event that raised speculation that Kim may try to climb Mount Halla.
Seoul has been pushing for Kim's visit to South Korea before the end of this year. But speculation has been rising that Kim's visit could be deferred until after his second summit with US President Donald Trump, which is expected to come early next year.
Asked about what he would focus on as president, he mentioned a set of diplomatic and economic issues.
"There are many things to do to salvage the opportunities to ensure that the ongoing peace process would never fail ... We have to strive to work with the North on the one hand and with the United States on the other hand," he said.
The president also said that he would strive to enhance people's livelihoods while working to see through his economic initiatives, such as achieving "income-led" growth and promoting innovation and fairness in economic and industrial sectors.
The income-led growth scheme is his signature economic strategy, which seeks to address income disparities and revitalize growth by creating jobs and raising household incomes. Critics have called for reversing it, saying it is a risky economic experiment. (Yonhap)
