By Sohn JiAe

President Moon Jae-in spoke with his U.S. counterpart, President Donald Trump, over the phone on Sept. 17 to reaffirm their close bilateral cooperation on dealing with North Korea’s ceaseless provocations.

In the 25-minute phone call, which started at 11 a.m. Korea-time at the request of the U.S. president, the two leaders strongly condemned Pyongyang’s constant missile launch threats. They agreed to continue to put stronger and more effective sanctions and pressure on the North, in collaboration with the international community, based on the solid Korea-U.S. alliance.

The two sides also agreed that it’s imperative to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions, including Resolution No. 2375, much more thoroughly.

President Moon said, “It’s crucial to continue strengthening the Korea-U.S. combined defense readiness, as well as our own deterrence and defense capabilities, in order to respond to the North’s provocations in an effective manner and to achieve peace and security across the Korean Peninsula."

The president then expressed his appreciation for the U.S. government agreeing to a revision of the Korea-U.S. missile guidelines and agreeing that Korea should have more state-of-the-art weapons, saying, “Hopefully, the two countries will continue to work more closely.” President Trump said, “I fully support our alliance and the U.S. government will continue with the support and cooperation that is required to further enhance the alliance.”

The two leaders concluded the conversation by saying that they would discuss the matter more at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly in New York.

jiae5853@korea.kr