North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he is aiming to denuclearize the Korean peninsula by the end of U.S. President Donald Trump's first term in early 2021, prompting thanks from the American leader.
Talks to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal have stalled recently, with Trump last month ordering Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to not return to North Korea for more discussions.
But Trump welcomed Kim's statement Thursday, writing on Twitter, "Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims 'unwavering faith in President Trump.' Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!"
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency issued a statement saying it is Kim Jong Un's "will to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat."
North and South Korea said they would hold their third summit in Pyongyang from September 18 to 20.
The previous two Korean summits were held in Panmunjon, the truce village in the border zone that separates the autocratic North from the democratic South.
During a meeting with his aides later Thursday, Moon said he had high expectations that his next summit with Kim would accelerate talks between the U.S. and North Korea, leading to the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
During their first summit in April, Moon and Kim agreed to seek a formal end to 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with a truce rather than a peace treaty, leaving the sides in a technical state of war. But Washington is demanding that Pyongyang completely abandon its nuclear weapons program ahead of any formal peace deal, while North Korea wants the United States to remove all its troops from the Korean Peninsula.