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| President Moon Jae-in walks with three former ambassadors of South Korea to the United States he invited to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. From left are Lee Hong-koo, Moon, Han Duck-soo and Hong Seok-hyun. / Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
President Moon Jae-in will focus on building mutual trust with U.S. President Donald Trump in their first summit scheduled this week, according to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday.
"The President said he will not look to get tangible outcomes over specific issues but rather on building friendship and trust with President Trump," spokesman Park Su-hyun said in a briefing on Moon's earlier meeting with seven former ambassadors from South Korea to the United States at Cheong Wa Dae.
The seven were Choi Young-jin, Han Duck-soo, Lee Tae-sik, Hong Seok-hyun, Yang Sung-chul, Lee Hong-koo and Han Sung-joo
Accompanied by Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Moon held the meeting to get advice concerning his five-day trip to the U.S. from Wednesday.
The summit is scheduled to be held Thursday and Friday.
There has been speculation that Moon and Trump have gaps on several issues including security and economic cooperation.
They included the delayed deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea, possible renegotiation of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and how to share the cost of American troops stationed here.
"The President said he will try to bolster the Seoul-Washington alliance and seek ways for North Korea's denuclearization based on friendship and trust with President Trump," Park said.
The seven former ambassadors advised Moon that "building friendship" should be his priority at the summit.
"They said this is only the first summit and expecting too much from it should not be a goal," the spokesman said.
"They also advised that reaching a consensus would be enough instead of going into details if specific issues, such as THAAD, were brought up at the summit."
The former envoys to Washington hoped that the two leaders will underscore the significance of the alliance.
Among the seven former ambassadors, Hong met Trump from May 17 to 20 as Moon's special envoy.
Hong, also a former media mogul, was named as Moon's special adviser on unification, foreign affairs and national security on May 21. But he refused the offer after contemplating it for nearly a month.
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