Putin, South Korea’s Moon Agree to Support Korean Denuclearization

Joint statement endorses Trump-Kim summit, peace treaty

Meeting Friday in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in issued a joint statement calling for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Presidents Moon and Putin

The statement said that they saw the recent Trump-Kim summit as a positive step toward denuclearization. In addition, they also backed a deal to “secure permanent peace and stability on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia.”

Moon’s visit to Moscow is the latest in a series of successful meeting between regional leaders. North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is planning to visit Moscow at some point in the future, after an invitation from Russian FM Sergey Lavrov.

Perhaps the most noteworthy part of this meeting, and this joint statement, is that it underscores that all of the powers in northeast Asia, and indeed, everyone involved in the situation in general, favors the diplomatic process going on, and supports the denuclearization plan.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.