简体中文
U.S. President Joe Biden and Republic of Korea (ROK) President Moon Jae-in on Friday injected fresh urgency into attempts to engage the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in dialogue over its nuclear weapons, with Biden saying he would meet its leader Kim Jong Un under the right conditions.
At a joint news conference, Biden and Moon both said the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is their goal. Biden said he was "under no illusions" about the difficulty of getting the DPRK to give up its nuclear arsenals after his predecessors failed.
"We both are deeply concerned about the situation," Biden said, adding that he and Moon shared a willingness to engage diplomatically with the DPRK "to take pragmatic steps to reduce tensions."
Pyongyang thus far has rebuffed U.S. entreaties for diplomacy since Biden took over from Donald Trump, who had three summits with Kim and the two famously exchanged "beautiful letters." Kim nonetheless refused to give up his nuclear weapons but did impose a freeze on testing them.
DPRK has not tested a nuclear bomb nor launched an inter-continental ballistic missile since 2017, although experts believe Kim's arsenal has steadily grown.
Biden said he would be willing to meet Kim under the right conditions – if he agreed to discuss his nuclear program and that his advisers first met with their DPRK counterparts to lay the groundwork.
The two presidents participated in a Medal of Honor ceremony Friday honoring Korean War-era Army Colonel Ralph Puckett in the East Room at the White House, and sat down in an expanded bilateral meeting with U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Biden also announced that Sung Kim, an American diplomat of Korean descent, will be the new special envoy to the DPRK.
(CGTN)
