June 11, 2018

The North Korea-U.S. Summit that the entire world has been looking forward to will be held tomorrow at long last. Now the meeting of the century between the two leaders is about to take place. I expect it to become a historic milestone on the path toward peace away from war.

I hope a significant agreement will be reached at the summit this time on the end of hostile relations and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. It was the bold determination of the two leaders, President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un, that has enabled us to come this far.

President Trump has demonstrated his strong will to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue and settle peace on the Korean Peninsula through practical action. Chairman Kim Jong Un has shown his sincerity for the success of the summit and commitment to denuclearization by taking decisive, proactive action, including the destruction of the nuclear test site in Punggye-ri.

I look forward to the two leaders' bold decisions to freely exchange what they want from each other so that the wish of people across the world for a new era on the Korean Peninsula could be realized.

I have both hopes and expectations that the summit tomorrow will be a success. With such hopes and expectations, I would like to make a request to the people as follows:

First, the relationship of deep-rooted hostility and the North Korean nuclear issue cannot be resolved in one single action through a meeting between leaders. Even after the two leaders have initiated dialogue in a big way, we may need a long process that could take one year, two years or even longer to completely resolve the issues concerned. In this connection, I want to note that the completion of the process requires sincere efforts by South Korea, North Korea and the United States and continued cooperation from neighboring countries. We need a long-term approach to lead the process in a successful manner.

Second, we cannot depend just on the North Korea-U.S. talks to solve the North Korean nuclear issue and end hostile relations. Inter-Korean talks need to be successfully carried out side by side. If inter-Korean relations improve, North Korea-U.S. relations can also improve, and if the North Korea-U.S. relations improve, inter-Korean relations can develop further. This kind of virtuous cycle needs to be created. To this end, I ask the public for its continued support for the inter-Korean dialogues, including the military talks beginning this week, followed by the Red Cross talks and the talks on sports exchanges.

Third, the Korean Government has succeeded in finally bringing about the current state of affairs despite all sorts of difficulties to date since the inauguration of this Administration. We will do all we can until there is complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a peace regime. I ask the people to stand by us until the end so that we do not lose the conviction and determination that we are, under all circumstances, the key players on Korean Peninsula issues.