Leader Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in at a summit in the DPRK on September 20th, 2018 (Photo: Yonhap/VNA)
Wrapping up an extraordinary year in which the two leaders met three times, leader Kim shared his wish to go together towards peace and prosperity, according to President Moon’s office.
The office added that Kim also expressed regret that he couldn’t make a planned visit to Seoul by the end of December as pledged by the leaders during their last summit in September in Pyongyang.
In response, President Moon Jae-in described the letter as “warmly-worded” and thanked Kim for it in a Facebook post that said he was "very glad" to see Kim's "willingness to meet often in the new year to resolve the practical issues of peace and prosperity and the denuclearization issue."
"If we meet together with sincerity, there is nothing we cannot achieve," added Moon. "It took a long time to get here and much has changed in one year."
The RoK President said he hoped to see Kim in the new year, and that his welcome to the country "remains unchanged."
Through three summits between Moon and Kim this year, the Koreas agreed to a variety of goodwill gestures and vowed to resume economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end to allow such activity.
They have met three times in 2018 amid warming ties between the two Koreas.
The two leaders met each other two times in the Truce Village of Panmunjom, on April 27th and May 26th. The third inter-Korean summit took place at Pyongyang on September 20th.
At the events, the two leaders signed the Panmunjom and Pyongyang Declarations in which President Moon Jae-in and leader Kim Jong-un agreed to end hostile relations, increase cooperation and exchanges, and denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
Earlier, DPRK leader Kim Jong-un on April 27th officially stepped over a cracked slab of concrete, the world’s most heavily armed border, to greet the RoK’s President Moon Jae-in./.