한미 정상, 방역 협력 지속...코로나19 대북지원 원칙 재확인<br /><br />The leaders of South Korea and the U.S. spoke on the phone last night,.. their second call in less than a month.<br />President Trump congratulated President Moon on last week's election win,... and called South Korea's response to the coronavirus the best model in the world.<br />The two leaders also touched on North Korea issues.<br />Kim Min-ji reports.<br />President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump have agreed to continue working together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />South Korea's top office said the two leaders spoke on the phone Saturday for 30 minutes.<br />It was their second call since COVID-19 became a global issue,... the last one being on March 24th.<br />The U.S. leader also congratulated South Korea on successfully holding a general election last week... as well as the "strong victory" of Moon's party.<br />Moon attributed that election success to the slowing growth in the number of new COVID-19 cases,... but he said that the government is still considering whether it will ease social distancing measures.<br />Moon also expressed hope that the situation improves in the U.S. so that Trump can focus on restoring economic growth.<br />Trump said that South Korea is the best model for handling the outbreak.<br />The White House said that the U.S. president expressed his appreciation for Seoul's assistance to Washington in procuring COVID-19 tests and for its support for the American people.<br />The two sides vowed to continue their cooperation on the quarantine front.<br />The leaders also discussed on the situation on the Korean Peninsula.<br />Moon, in particular, spoke highly of Trump's efforts to engage North Korea and achieve peace on the Peninsula which Trump said is the natural thing to do and a policy that he will maintain.<br />The two leaders also reaffirmed the principle of providing Pyeongyang with humanitarian assistance in regards to COVID-19.<br />Their remarks on North Korea were relayed by the South Korean presidential office, but they were not in the statement by the White House.<br />The South Korean side did not reveal whether Moon and Trump discussed the sticky issue of defense cost-sharing,... which is still being negotiated, while the White House said that the two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen their security relationship.<br />Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.<br />
