09 March 2018•Update: 09 March 2018
By Serife Cetin
BRUSSELS
The European Union on Friday welcomed a planned inter-Korean summit in late April, describing it as a "positive development".
“The recent positive developments with regard to the situation on the Korean Peninsula are very welcome. The European Union is encouraged by the announcement of a summit meeting between the Republic of Korea's President Moon and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un in April and fully supports the efforts of the Republic of Korea in this regard,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a written statement.
She said the EU was looking forward to a discussion with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on March 19.
“Furthermore, President [Donald] Trump's readiness to accept Kim Jong-un's invitation to a summit meeting by May also represents a positive development.”
Mogherini said the DPRK's commitment to enter into negotiations on denuclearization and refrain from testing nuclear weapons or missiles during these negotiations “could create the necessary conditions towards a negotiated solution”.
Mogherini went on to say that the EU would continue to fully support the objective of “the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”.
The announcement of the inter-Korean summit came Tuesday after Chung Eui-yong, the head of South Korea's National Security Office, returned from a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang on Monday.
