"South Korea will continue to work toward restoring inter-Korean relations," said Ministry spokesperson Koo Byung-sam during a regular briefing, offering another conciliatory gesture to the isolated country.
But the ministry refrained from commenting on why North Korea remained unresponsive to U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated proposals for talks during his visit to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the country's southeastern city of Gyeongju last week.
Despite Trump's eagerness to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, talks between the two did not materialize, with the North launching a couple of ship-to-surface cruise missiles on the day of his arrival in South Korea, widely interpreted as a signal of rejection.
Regarding North Korea's criticism of South Korea's pursuit of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, which came just ahead of President Lee Jae Myung's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping last Saturday, Koo said denuclearization is a shared goal of the international community and that South Korea remains committed to it in cooperation with key allies and other relevant countries.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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