Secretly, Moon Jae-in Exchanged Letters With Kim Joong-un Before Meeting Joe Biden

JAKARTA - South Korean President Moon Jae-in reportedly exchanged letters exploring the prospect of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ahead of his meeting with US President Joe Biden in May, according to the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, Friday 2.

President Moon hopes to use the meeting with Biden as an opportunity to revive stalled talks with Kim and urge Washington to tackle the issue with more urgency.

President Moon is said to have sent a letter to Kim Joong-un seeking ways to hold a summit, including online, if possible, as he publicly proposed in January, given the coronavirus pandemic, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.

Citing Reuters, however, it did not say how Kim would respond. Moon's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"My understanding is, the two leaders exchanged letters around the South Korea-US summit," the source said.

"I have heard that through letters, the two leaders discussed how to hold the summit like a video conference," the source continued.

President Moon and President Biden expressed their willingness to engage with North Korea after their May meeting.

However, President Biden has shown no intention of easing sanctions, in line with Pyongyang's stubbornness. He said he had "no illusions" about the difficulty of getting Kim to abandon nuclear weapons.

Denuclearization talks between North Korea and the United States have been suspended since Kim and former US President Donald Trump failed to reach an agreement at their second summit in Vietnam in February 2019.

These conditions led to a deterioration in inter-Korean relations, as Moon had offered to play the role of mediator.

To note, North Korea has consistently criticized and ridiculed Moon and his government. Last year, North Korea blew up the liaison office the two Koreas had built on its territory.