Moon, French Premier Agree To Boost Bilateral Ties, Exchange

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe agreed Tuesday to further expand their countries' bilateral ties, through a possible increase in the number of direct flights to and from the countries.

PARIS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Oct, 2018 ) :South Korean President Moon Jae-in and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe agreed Tuesday to further expand their countries' bilateral ties, through a possible increase in the number of direct flights to and from the countries.

Moon is on a four-day state visit that will end later in the day when he heads to Italy.

The South Korean president asked for France's support for efforts to peacefully denuclearize North Korea, one day after he emphasized the need for the United Nations to consider easing its sanctions against the communist state in his bilateral summit with French President Emmanuel Macron.

"We must further encourage North Korea's denuclearization process by easing U.N. sanctions when and if we decide the North's denuclearization process has at least reached a point of no return, and I ask President Macron to play such a role as (the head of state of) a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council," Moon was quoted as telling Macron.

The efforts to denuclearize North Korea stalled after U.S. President Donald Trump called off a scheduled North Korea trip by his top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, citing a lack of progress in the denuclearization process.

Trump agreed to hold a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after Moon returned home from his trip to Pyongyang last month for his third meeting with Kim.

"Denuclearization negotiations between the North and the U.S. are leading to practical measures at a much faster rate than earlier anticipated, and I hope the countries will reach a great agreement by putting what they each must do in the second summit, unlike in the first North Korea-U.S. summit, which led to a rather symbolic agreement," Moon told the French prime minister, according to his top public relations secretary, Yoon Young-chan.

The first Trump-Kim summit was held in Singapore in June. The U.S. president has said his second meeting with Kim will likely take place shortly after the U.S. mid-term elections slated for Nov. 6.

Moon also called for efforts to expand bilateral cooperation between his country and France.

"While noting that our country's introduction of France's express train (TGV) in the 1990s and other joint economic projects, such as the joint development of a satellite in the 2000s, provided great benefits to the people of both countries, President Moon and Prime Minister Philippe agreed to continue exploring new areas of cooperation while continuously expanding trade and investment between the two countries," Moon's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said of the Moon-Philippe meeting at the official residence of the French prime minister.

President Moon especially expressed hope for increased trade between the countries, also asking France to make sure the EU safeguard measures on steel would not adversely affect the mutually beneficial trade relations between his country and France.

Moon and Philippe called for increased cooperation in areas including climate change, artificial intelligence and information and communication technology to better prepare both countries for the fourth industrial revolution, Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.

To further increase the exchange of visitors between the countries, the leaders agreed to work for a rise in the number of direct flights between the countries, it said, adding that there are currently 23 weekly flights betweenthe two countries.