South Korea's unification minister said Friday that Japan would become an "important partner" to achieve President Moon Jae In's economic cooperation initiative with the North if denuclearization of the divided Korean Peninsula is realized.
Cho Myoung Gyon, a key minister engaged in talks with Pyongyang, also said in an interview with Kyodo News that normalization of North Korea's diplomatic ties with Japan and the United States would provide a "stable footing" for denuclearization to proceed.
It was the first time for Cho to grant an interview to foreign media since the April 27 summit between South Korean President Moon Jae In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the truce village of Panmunjeom.
Cho, who has led South Korea's negotiations with the North, attended the historic summit, in which Moon and Kim agreed to pursue "complete denuclearization" of the peninsula and strive to formally end the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The economic cooperation initiative includes three economic belts: an energy and resource belt connecting the east coast of the Korean Peninsula to the Russian Far East, a transportation and logistics belt between the west coast of the peninsula and China, and a cross-border tourism belt.
Before taking office in May 2017, Moon had included the initiative in his campaign platform.
It has yet to be implemented, however, as the South has imposed economic sanctions against the North for continuing to develop nuclear weapons in defiance of international condemnation and sanctions.
According to Cho, Moon attempted to explain his economic initiative to Kim at the summit using Powerpoint slides, but due to lack of time, Moon gave him a USB drive that contained data on it.
Pyongyang showed interest in the connectivity of trains and roads between the two Koreas, Cho said.
As for the North's sudden cancellation of inter-Korean ministerial talks on Wednesday, Cho said the South will start trying to arrange their resumption after joint U.S.-South Korean military drills that began May 11 end on May 25.
Criticizing the military exercises for undermining a recent thaw on the Korean Peninsula, the North has suspend talks with the South.
"The denuclearization issue and South-North relations are like the two wheels of a cart and a cart will not move forward with only one wheel," Cho said, "I believe North Korea will make a right judgment."
If inter-Korean talks resume, issues unaffected by economic sanctions "will be promoted soon," Cho said, citing reunions between war-separated families, compilation of a dictionary to clarify differences of the two Korean languages and the implementation of measures to ease tensions in the 4 kilometer wide, 250 km long Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.
Cho, meanwhile, emphasized that he recognizes Japan is an "important neighboring country," with which South Korea should continue to work together not only in the economic area but also in the security, peace and social fields.
"It is a common goal of Japan, South Korea and surrounding countries to eliminate the situation where North Korea's missiles fly over Japan," Cho said.
"The process of cooperating to resolve problems is important" in consideration of North Korea's stance, instead of unilaterally putting pressure on Pyongyang, the minister added.
Regarding North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, Cho said Moon raised the issue at the summit with Kim, but declined to comment on how North Korea responded to it.
