Moon Jae-in rallies opposition support for North-South Korea summit

South Korea President Moon Jae-in on Friday sought to rally opposition party's support for his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a rare meeting with Hong Joon-Pyo chief of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP).

At the meeting in the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae President Moon and Chairman Hong held frank discussions on foreign and security issues ahead of the South-North summit as reported by the Yonhap news agency.

President Moon Jae-in noted that "it would not be desirable for the opposition party to oppose the inter-Korean summit since it is already set to be held while calling for a bipartisan support for the summit."

Further opposition leader Hong Joon-Pyo said that he and his party does not oppose holding an inter-Korean summit but that the government must not repeat its mistakes of the past.

Earlier the opposition leader had criticised Moon-Jae In for delaying the process of denuclearisation of the North Korea which shall result in giving more time to the latter to buy more nuclear weapons.

Despite North-South Korea agreement to denuclearize in two previous inter-Korean summits held in 2000 and 2007, the North continued to advance its nuclear and missile capabilities, staging its sixth nuclear test just last year.

The opposition leader also voiced his party's concerns about potential "cracks" in the alliance with the United States, saying Moon should make efforts to further strengthen it.

Moon is set to meet the North Korean leader on April 27 for what would be a third inter-Korean summit, which is set to be followed by the first ever North Korea-U.S. summit in May or early June.