Washington-Pyongyang Thaw Essential for Peace on Korean Peninsula - Moon Jae-In

TOKYO (Sputnik) - Peace on the Korean Peninsula is possible only if the relations between North Korea and the United States are normalized and the two state will work out the denuclearization plan, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said.

"The settlement of peace on the peninsula and the common prosperity of South and North Korea will be possible only with substantial progress in denuclearization, the subsequent normalization of diplomatic ties between the United States and North Korea, and the establishment of a system for permanent peace," Moon said in an interview published in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper on Tuesday.

The South Korean politician added that it was important to work out an accord needed to achieve denuclearization by means of talks between North Korea and the United States.

Moon Jae-in called on Japan to renew a dialogue with North Korea to normalize relations between these two states.

"I think it is especially important to renew the dialogue between North Korea and Japan… If the Japan-North Korea relations are normalized it could make a large contribution to the peace in security in Northeast Asia even away from the Korean Peninsula," Moon said in an interview published in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper on Tuesday.

In recent months the situation on the Korean Peninsula has significantly improved. The thaw between the two Koreas has already resulted in the talks between the leaders of the two countries held on April 27. During the meeting the sides signed the Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification on the Korean Peninsula. The document commits the two countries to a nuclear-free peninsula and talks to bring a formal end to the Korean War.

In May or early June, North Korean leader Kim Jonh Un is going to meet with US President Donald Trump.