S.Korea's foreign ministry to focus on helping resume DPRK-U.S. dialogue

South Korea's foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it will focus this year on helping resume dialogue between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States.

The Ministry said in its 2019 work plan, submitted to the presidential Blue House, that the country will support the rapid resumption of the DPRK-U.S. dialogue.

It planned to push for comprehensive progress in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, improved relations between Pyongyang and Washington and the building of a peace regime on the peninsula.

An unnamed foreign Ministry official told local reporters that South Korea will concentrate its diplomacy on rapidly resuming the DPRK-U.S. dialogue, as the most important thing is to maintain a dialogue momentum between Pyongyang and Washington.

Regarding the second summit between DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, the Ministry said the two leaders made a productive discussion on the denuclearization and its corresponding measures though they failed to reach a complete agreement.

The second Kim-Trump summit ended without any agreement in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi in late February.

The Seoul Ministry anticipated a great progress in the peninsula's complete denuclearization and the lasting peace settlement depending on follow-up talks between Pyongyang and Washington and the DPRK leader's possible visit to South Korea.

During the third summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang last September, the DPRK leader promised to visit Seoul in the foreseeable future.

The Ministry said it will push to win support from relevant countries and the international community for effective progress in the denuclearization and the peace regime settlement, while closely cooperating with the United States.

It noted that South Korea will push to turn the armistice agreement into a peace regime on the peninsula.

The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with the armistice.