President Moon Jae-in graces the cover of Time magazine for the second time following his interview with the U.S. publication.

By Lee Hana

Photos = Screen shot of Time's website

President Moon Jae-in has graced the cover of Time following his recent interview with the U.S. weekly. 

The magazine on June 24 posted its interview with the president on its website along with a picture of the upcoming July 5-12 issue with him on the cover. The cover headline is "Final Offer: South Korea's Moon Jae-in makes a last push for peace with the North."  

The feature story is titled "South Korean President Moon Jae-in makes one last attempt to heal his homeland."

Time magazine on June 24 posted the article titled "South Korean President Moon Jae-in makes one last attempt to heal his homeland."

The interview reaffirmed President Moon's commitment to re-energizing the peace process on the Korean Peninsula over the remainder of his tenure and offered predictions for the days ahead. 

Having entered Cheong Wa Dae in 2017 amid tense inter-Korean relations, he has held three inter-Korean summits starting from 2018. A follow-up meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019 between the U.S. and North Korea ended without progress, however, and Pyeongyang demolished a joint liaison office near the border town of Kaesong, Time said. 

President Moon last month held a bilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden "to re-energize a stalled peace process," but Time said, "South Korea elects a new President in March, and since (President) Moon is ineligible to serve more than one term, he knows that time is running out to heal his riven homeland."

In the interview, the president said "he knows he doesn't have much time" and "the peace we have right now is a very fragile one; it can be shaken at any time."

On the character of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the president described him as "very honest … very enthusiastic" and who has "a good idea of what is going on around the world."

The president also quoted Kim as having "somberly" said "he wants to pass down a better future for his children, and that he did not want them to carry the burden of nuclear weapons."

The magazine also discussed global concerns over the North's human rights violations and mentioned the "vaccine diplomacy" suggested by the president, adding that "there are few original ideas on how to break this cycle" of negotiation and estrangement with the North. 

This interview was done via teleconferencing at Cheong Wa Dae. 

President Moon previously appeared on the magazine's Asia edition cover in May 2017 with the headline "The Negotiator: Moon Jae-in aims to be the South Korean leader who can deal with Kim Jong-un."

hlee10@korea.kr