By Ambassador of the EU to Korea Michael Reiterer (second from left) poses for photos with Lee Do-hoon, Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (EU Embassy to Korea)
By
Michael Reiterer, Ambassador of the EU to KoreaThe meeting of President Moon Jae-in and
Kim Jong-un and the Panmunjeom Declaration that they signed shows that the way
to peace is possible, against all the odds. It shows that dialogue and
diplomacy are our strongest tools to create peaceful solutions to the most
difficult problems, and that they can benefit the region and the whole world.
The results of the summit leave the international community with hope that we
are standing at the starting line of a brighter future.
The European Union has long had one of
the closest meetings of minds with the Republic of Korea in our determination
to pursue complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and at the same time avoid conflict on the
peninsula.
Following the inter-Korean summit, the European
Union is ready to answer the call of the two leaders for the international
community to lend its full support to the denuclearization of the Peninsula.
Full denuclearization, as committed to by the DPRK, must include its nuclear
and missile programs and be complete, verifiable and irreversible.
We now look forward to the planned summit meeting
between the President of the United States and Chairman Kim Jong Un and further
positive outcomes that may stem from it. There are still differences in the
positions of the main parties, but with the wise leadership and "bold and
creative thinking", that we are witnessing, leaders in the region have a
historic opportunity to put the Korean peninsula on course to denuclearization
and a peaceful and prosperous future.
The people who brought about European
integration from the ruins of the Second World War proved to their doubters
that where there is a will there is a way. I am confident that leaders in this
region will show just that. The European Union, as always, stands on the side
of peace, on the side of denuclearization, and for a prosperous future for all
Koreans.