Trump approves Seoul's plan to buy billions of dollars in military equipment

“President Moon and President Trump reaffirmed their common view that the most important thing is to bring North Korea to the negotiating table to peacefully resolve the nuclear and missile issues on the Korean Peninsula by imposing sanctions and increasing pressure on the Kim Jong-un regime,” Blue House spokesman Park Soo-hyun said in a public press briefing.

In July and August alone, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made 12 inspections of military areas out of a total of 13 public activities.

According to Mr. Park's statement, Mr. Moon condemned Pyongyang's latest missile launch, calling it a serious provocation that violated United Nations Security Council resolutions and raised tensions in the region.

Agreeing with the above view, Mr. Trump emphasized the importance of sending a strong and clear message to the country on the North Korean Peninsula.

“The two leaders noted the need to strengthen South Korea’s defense capabilities to counter North Korea’s provocations and threats. They also reached a basic agreement on revising the ‘missile code’ in the direction that South Korea expects,” the spokesman added.

Specifically, South Korea previously proposed to revise some conventions between the two countries, such as increasing the maximum explosive load of North Korean missiles from 500kg (in 2012) to 1 ton.

The two presidents also agreed to strengthen multilateral cooperation with Japan to better contain the nuclear ambitions of the Kim Jong-un regime.

In addition, Mr. Trump and Mr. Moon pledged to continue to strongly increase diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea, as well as take all necessary measures to prevent and defend against the increasingly serious threat from South Korea's neighbor.

“The two leaders agreed to develop the alliance through defense cooperation and strengthen Seoul's defense capabilities,” Yonhap quoted Mr. Park as saying.

Ultimately, Mr Trump “conceptually approved” a plan to buy billions of dollars worth of military equipment from South Korea, but details of the plan were not disclosed.

After Pyongyang launched a missile, believed to be a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile, over northern Japan early on the morning of August 29, the three allies, the United States, South Korea and Japan, continuously promoted bilateral and multilateral dialogues to discuss countermeasures against the missile and nuclear programs developed by Mr. Kim's administration.

Earlier, the Blue House announced that South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold a bilateral summit on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia next week.

Mr Moon and his US counterpart Trump will also meet next month, when the South Korean president visits New York for a session of the United Nations General Assembly.

According to TPO