Korean leaders Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in exchanged personal letters this week, the North’s state-run news agency KCNA reported. This file photo shows the two leaders at the end of an inter-Korean summit in 2018.
Pyeongyang Press Corps | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un responded this week to a personal letter from outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
According to the North American news agency KCNA, Moon said he wanted to create “the basis for reunification” with joint statements from both sides even after he stepped down as president. Kim “appreciated the effort and effort” that Moon made, the report said.
“The exchange of personal letters between the top leaders of the North and South is an expression of their deep trust,” KCNA said.
Moon’s spokesman said the president asked Kim to remain committed to cooperation and that the dialogue should transcend the “era of confrontation,” Reuters reported.
Kim said, “It is our achievement that we have signed historic declarations and agreements that will guide inter-Korean relations,” spokeswoman Park Kyung-mi told NBC News.
“President Moon hoped for the resumption of the US[North Korea] Talks as soon as possible,” she added.
The news comes days after the reclusive North conducted another missile test and weeks before the May 10 inauguration of new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Relations between the two sides initially warmed under Moon, who held three summits with Kim in 2018. But relations deteriorated sharply and the North threatened military action. It also blew up its joint liaison office with South Korea in 2020.
We should not jump to the conclusion that this so-called resumption of exchanges between Southern and Northern leaders will ultimately lead to the next government.
Shawn Ho
Associate Research Fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
The letters are a way of summarizing efforts over the past five years, and “the hope is that some aspects of collaboration” between the two sides can continue, according to Shawn Ho, an associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies .
But as Moon’s tenure as president comes to an end, Ho warned: “We should not conclude that this so-called resumption of exchanges between Southern and Northern leaders will more broadly lead to the next administration. “
Yoon’s government will likely take a “very different” hardline approach with a “completely different set of key players,” he told CNBC.
The new government will want to focus on strengthening cooperation with the US and Japan, he said. “I expect some tensions to increase in the coming months.”
On the North Korean side, according to Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, the letters do not represent a turn to diplomacy. He pointed out that North Korea was planning military demonstrations.
Still, he said the friendly communication between the two sides is “a reminder that inter-Korean relations are not exclusively confrontational and should involve dialogue.”