South Korea, US ‘will always stand together’, Moon Jae-in says after call with Joe Biden

The South Korean president also welcomed ‘America’s return’ to the world stage and pledged to upgrade his country’s alliance with the United States

As mediator between the US and North Korea, Moon faces the challenge of getting stalled talks between Washington and Pyongyang back on track

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Photo: Yonhap/DPA

Published: 11:01am, 4 Feb 2021Updated: 11:47am, 4 Feb 2021

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in pledged on Thursday to upgrade the country’s alliance with the United States in a phone call with President Joe Biden, Seoul’s presidential office said.

The call comes as Moon, who had offered to be a mediator between the US and North Korea, faces the challenge of getting the stalled talks between Washington and Pyongyang back on track.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and former US President Donald Trump agreed to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula at their first summit in 2018, but a second summit and subsequent working-level talks fell apart.

Donald Trump pictured with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February 2019. Photo: AFP

“We will always stand together as we work for peace on the Korean peninsula and tackle global challenges,” Moon said in a statement after his call with Biden at 8am local time.

The South Korean president said the two countries’ alliance was “anchored in shared values” and welcomed what he described as “America’s return” in the midst of worldwide problems such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and economic polarisation.

The Moon-Biden talks came two weeks after the new US president’s inauguration. Since taking office, Biden has spoken over the phone with the leaders of such other nations as Canada, Mexico, Britain, Russia and Japan. A South Korean official earlier said the timing of the talks was not as important as their substance.