ROK Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul speaks during a briefing at the Seoul Foreign Correspondent's club in Seoul on June 4, 2019. (ED JONES / AFP)

SEOUL — The Unification Minister of Republic of Korea (ROK), Kim Yeon-chul, on Thursday called for the continued summit between the two Koreas amid the stalled talks for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula between Pyongyang and Washington. 

Kim said the inter-Korean summit should continue in order to reinvigorate the denuclearization and peace process

He made the remark in a forum to mark the 19th anniversary of the first-ever inter-Korean summit held in Pyongyang on June 15, 2000 between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il, then leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to local media reports. 

Kim said the inter-Korean summit should continue in order to reinvigorate the denuclearization and peace process through the virtuous cycle of the summits between the two Koreas, betweenthe DPRK and the United States, and between ROK and the United States. 

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The minister noted that the government of ROK would bear in mind the spirit of mutual respect, trust, peace and reciprocity as seen in the June 15 Joint Declaration, saying Seoul would not stop its journey for peace on the Korean Peninsula while implementing the joint declarations of the two Koreas. 

His remark came a day after Moon Jae-in expressed his hope to meet with top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un before US President Donald Trump's visit to Seoul at the end of this month. 

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Moon said at the Oslo Forum in the Norwegian capital that if possible, it would be desirable for him to meet the DPRK leader before Trump's trip to the ROK, noting that he was always ready to meet Kim at any time. 

Trump was scheduled to visit Japan and the ROK later this month to discuss the denuclearization of the peninsula, according to the US State Department. 

Denuclearization negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been stalled since the second Kim-Trump summit ended with no agreement in late February in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.