By Sohn JiAe
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae

President Moon Jae-in, wrapping up his tour to Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, paid an unexpected visit to the press pool that accompanied him on the three state visits, at the Hotel Jen Manila in the Philippines on Nov. 14.

The president held an impromptu press conference, briefing the Korean press present on the outcomes of his eight-day visit to the three Southeast Asian neighbors.

“I unveiled Korea’s ‘New Southern Policy’ in an effort to boost cooperation with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and garnered support for the new policy from ASEAN member states,” President Moon said. “We decided to expand cooperation on various areas, such as infrastructure, finance, services, defense materials, business, especially small- and mid-sized companies, and smart cities. We also vowed to increase the volume of trade between ASEAN and Korea to USD 200 billion by 2020,” he added.



Regarding North Korean nuclear weapons, the president stressed that, “This time, we were able to draw almost perfect support for dealing with the issues from all East Asian countries, including ASEAN. They all desire addressing Pyongyang's issues in a peaceful manner, and, to this end, agree that stronger sanctions and pressure on the North should be required.”

He went on to say that, “China and Russia, too, stood fully by our government’s stance against the regime, with zero tolerance toward the North’s nuclear weapons and missiles, all while promising that they would implement U.N. Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang.”

Mentioning that he had held a series of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang to help normalize the strained Korea-China ties, President Moon said, “Our bilateral ties are now at a new starting line, to open a new era. I’ve accepted their invitation to visit China within this year. Hopefully, my upcoming visit there, probably in December, will be a very crucial occasion to help further develop the relationship between Seoul and Beijing.”

jiae5853@korea.kr