President Moon Jae-in said, "We have reached agreement on the text of an end-of-war declaration to be presented to North Korea between South Korea and the United States."



President Moon made this statement in a joint written interview with the world's seven largest news agencies, which was conducted with three months remaining in his term.



President Moon proposed an end-of-war declaration at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September last year with the participation of the two Koreas or the United States and China.



President Moon said, "China also supports a declaration of an end to the war," but said, "It may be too greedy to achieve a declaration of an end to the Korean War within the term of our government."



This is the first time that President Moon has made negative comments about the possibility of an end-of-war declaration, and it is interpreted as taking into account the realistic circumstances that the next presidential election is one month away and the government's term of office is only three months left.



Instead, President Moon stressed, "I want to at least make the conditions for an end-of-war declaration more mature and hand it over to the next government."



Nevertheless, he said, "The 'end of the war' was agreed upon several times between the two Koreas," he said.



President Moon emphasized that inter-Korean communication had been sufficiently achieved, saying, "I met Kim Jong-un several times with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and had long conversations, communicated deeply and built a trusting relationship."



Instead, he hinted that communication was made using personal letters, saying, "Even though we couldn't meet, we had the necessary communication."



"I hope that the many efforts made with Chairman Kim will pay off in the end," he said.



Regarding the recent succession of North Korean armed provocations, President Moon said, "We are looking very seriously at the situation that is being developed on the Korean Peninsula."



"If North Korea's successive missile launches go so far as to abolish the moratorium declaration, the Korean Peninsula can quickly return to the war crisis it was in five years ago," he said.



In an interview, President Moon made clear the key to overcoming the crisis through dialogue, saying, "It is the political leaders of the countries concerned to prevent a crisis through persistent dialogue and diplomacy."



Regarding the human rights issue of North Koreans, he said, "Efforts to improve inter-Korean relations, North Korea-U.S. relations, and to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula are ultimately very important for the improvement of human rights in North Korea." It is a shortcut that leads to the practical improvement of human rights in North Korea.”



(Photo = Asia Pacific News Agency Joint Investigation Foundation, Yonhap News)