South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday dismissed reports that President Moon Jae-in has asked Pope Francis to help arrange a summit with North Korea's reclusive leader, also noting it was not the time for such a meeting.
A local newspaper reported that the South Korean president sought to ask for the pope's help in arranging an inter-Korean summit in his letter to the head of the Vatican.
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This file photo, taken on March 11, 2017, shows then presidential hopeful of the liberal Democratic Party Moon Jae-in (L) shaking hands with Archbishop Kim Hee-joong in Gwangju, 350 kilometers south of Seoul. Following his inauguration as the new South Korean president, Moon named Archbishop Kim as his special envoy to the Vatican. (Yonhap) |
The newspaper quoted Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong, Moon's special envoy to the Vatican, for the report, noting the archbishop was expected to meet the pontiff later Tuesday or Wednesday.
"Archbishop Kim is in fact set to deliver the president's personal letter to the pope. However, the letter does not contain a request to the pope to help mediate a South-North Korean summit," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun said in a released statement.
The president has instead only asked the pontiff to pray for peace and reconciliation between the two Koreas, he added.
Such a quick rejection of a possible summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un follows a series of missile launches by Pyongyang.
The North launched what it claimed to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Hwasong-12, on May 14, only four days after the South Korean leader came into office following his victory in a presidential by-election.
The communist state again test-fired a medium-range missile, the Pukguksong-2, on Sunday.
Moon has repeatedly vowed to use all available means, including dialogue, to rid North Korea of its nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction.
However, the continued provocations from North Korea have apparently forced the new liberal South Korean government to stick to sticks, at least for now.
"We will sternly deal with any provocation. It is also important to enhance our defense capability to deter and prevent North Korea's additional provocations," Chung Eui-yong, head of the National Security Office and Moon's top security adviser, told reporters Monday.
Chung also stressed a need to resume dialogue with the North eventually but noted talks with the communist state must not "undermine the international framework of sanctions against the North."
Seoul and Pyongyang have held two rounds of inter-Korean summits: in 2000 and 2007.
The two Koreas technically remain at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)
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