President Moon Jae-in held a town hall meeting with the public this evening.
Aired live across the country,... he offered his views on a wide range of issues.
Let's connect to our Park Hee-jun at the Blue House.
Hee-jun, tell us more about what was discussed during the meeting.
Daniel.
For over a hundred minutes of unedited, unscripted discussions,... what we saw were frank and candid discussions between President Moon and the public.
The president received questions and feedback on his administration's policies.
There wasn't enough time to take questions from each of the 300 pre-selected citizens.
But the president still touched upon some important issues in the country.
Here's an important message by President Moon on North Korea --efforts for a third North Korea-U.S. summit is in the works.
Take a listen.
"I believe efforts are being made for a North Korea-U.S. summit within this year. And when progress is made in those talks, there will be progress in inter-Korean relations as well."
Although there is disappointment over the slow progress in the advancement of inter-Korean relations,... President Moon says it's inevitable since Seoul has to consider the Pyeongyang's denuclearization efforts and international sanctions placed on the regime.
But because a great amount of groundwork has been completed in terms of cooperation in railways and roads,... the president expressed confidence that the two sides will soon be able to pick up from where they left.
And another important issue of interest is the government's decision to end its military intel-sharing pact with Japan. I hear this was also discussed during the session?
That's right.
President Moon reiterated his government's stance that it's difficult to extend GSOMIA with Japan,... when it says it can't trust South Korea on security issues
Take a listen to what he said first.
"The South Korea-U.S. alliance is the core of our security, but the tripartite security cooperation with Japan is also important. We aim to continue to cooperate with Japan. Even if GSOMIA is terminated, we will continue coordination on that front."
The agreement is set to expire this Saturday.
But unless Japan stops enforcing export curbs on key South Korean export materials,... it looks like President Moon will go ahead with terminating the deal.
But he said he's still willing to make every last effort to prevent it,... also open to negotiating with the Japanese government.
There were also questions on other policies by the Moon administration,... regarding multicultural families, economic policies and real estate.
But all in all,... President Moon says he will work to further reflect the voices of the public in these wide range of issues.
And he also hopes to continue interacting with the people.
Back to you, Daniel.