By Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos
SINGAPORE – President Duterte is relieved that President Kim Jong Un and President Moon Jae In are pushing to end the decades-long war between North and South Korea.
With the positive development in the Korean Peninsula, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that everyone, including Duterte, is relieved since they may now cease from worrying that a nuclear missile may hit Philippine territory.
“Of course everyone is relieved because we were all looking at the past prospects of a nuclear encounter in our backyard. So very much relieved. As you know, whenever they test their missiles, it always lands on Philippine waters,” Roque said here.
The Palace official added that he is almost certain that leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will congratulate the Koreans in their effort to bring peace to their lands after being apart for at least 60 years.
“I think it’s almost sure that they will express relief over these development and will congratulate the Koreans for their effort to talk peace amongst themselves, as an encouragement to proceed with the talks,” Roque said.
Kim and Moon announced Friday that the two Koreas will push for three-way or four-way talks with the United States and China in order to establish permanent peace in the peninsula.
Both leaders have reportedly agreed to denuclearize Korea. North Korea’s nuclear warfare and testing caused great concern over the past years and have escalated last year when tension arose between the rogue state and the United States.
History was also made Friday after Kim crossed the world’s most heavily armed border at the Demilitarized Zone to meet Moon for talks about the North’s nuclear weapons. Kim also invited Moon to cross the border briefly before they returned to the southern side.
Last year, Duterte, then ASEAN chairman, expressed concerns over North Korea’s nuclear warfare and said that the Philippines will support Japan in its stance against the rogue state.
“We are supporting you against what North Korea is doing. We condemn the continued posturing of North Korea with the nuclear weapons,” Duterte said during the sidelines of the 31st ASEAN Summit in Manila last November.
“We have said it several times already in the past that it is not to the interest of North Korea to swagger around and threaten the world, of keeping us hostage with the atomic weapons,” he added.
During his visit to Japan in October 2017, Duterte appealed to all stakeholders to try and usher in a peaceful resolution to the situation in the Korean Peninsula.
