ROK's president vows to build peace economy with DPRK via dialogue

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea (ROK)'s President Moon Jae-in vowed Thursday to build a peace economy on the Korean Peninsula with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) through dialogue and cooperation.

Moon made the remarks in his address on the 74th anniversary of the Liberation Day to mark the liberation of the peninsula from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonization.

"We aim to establish a peace economy in which prosperity is achieved through peace and also complete our liberation through the unification of the peninsula," Moon said.

"The peace economy begins with the efforts to continue dialogue and cooperation so that DPRK can choose economic prosperity over nuclear program upon the foundation of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Moon said.

The denuclearization talks between the DPRK and the United States have been stalled, but the working-level talks between the two sides would be resumed in the near future after top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump met at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in June, he said.

"In spite of a series of worrying actions taken by DPRK recently, the momentum for dialogue remains unshaken," he added.

"Now is the time for both Koreas and the United States to focus on resuming working-level negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington at the earliest possible date," the president said.

The DPRK fired off short-range projectiles in recent weeks in an apparent protest against the ongoing joint annual military exercises of ROK and the United States.

The ROK's leader urged the DPRK to return to the dialogue table.

"When economic cooperation accelerates (between the two Koreas) and the peace economy begins, unification will beckon as stark reality before us someday," Moon added.