MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has commended South Korean President Moon Jae-in for his commitment to promote peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.
“I commended President Moon for his commitment to strengthen the foundations of security and stability in the region,” Duterte said in his speech upon his arrival from a productive three-day visit to South Korea.
During their bilateral meeting in Seoul, the President also expressed his full support to all the efforts for the eventual denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte has reiterated his strong opposition against any nuclear weapon.
“But our President also expressed his optimism that the talks between the North and South Korea will succeed,” Roque said in a press conference in Seoul last Tuesday.
Duterte, according to Roque, is also hoping for a successful summit between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore next week.
Moon and Kim met late last month to discuss the North Korean leader’s historic meeting with the US president.
It was the second time in a month that the leaders of the two Koreas met to push their commitment to achieve peace and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
The first historic meeting between Moon and Kim happened on April 26 this year at the Military Demarcation Line, a line which divides the Korean Peninsula for 65 years.
After the Moon-Kim summit, where North Korea’s leader promised to work for complete denuclearization of the peninsula, Duterte called Kim the “hero of everybody”.
“For all of the time, he was pictured to be the bad boy of the community. With one masterstroke, he is now the hero of everybody,” Duterte said upon his arrival from the ASEAN Summit hosted by Singapore on April 29.
Moon took office only last year with a promise to reach out to his North Korean counterpart in a bid to stop the North’s nuclear weapons program. (PNA/Jelly Musico)
