South Korea's President Yoon asks North to embark on path of complete denuclearisation

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday (May 10) asked his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un to embark on path of complete denuclearisation.

Yoon has suggested that he will help come up with an ''audacious'' economic plan for Pyongyang if North Korea agrees to giving up nukes.

After being sworn in at a ceremony in Seoul, Yoon said "If North Korea genuinely embarks on a process to complete denuclearisation, we are prepared to work with the international community to present an audacious plan that will vastly strengthen North Korea's economy and improve the quality of life for its people." 

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"While North Korea's nuclear weapon programs are a threat not only to our security and that of Northeast Asia, the door to dialogue will remain open so that we can peacefully resolve this threat," Yoon added.

The 61-year-old, who had won a tight election in March, faces two major problems as he takes office: a belligerent North Korea testing new weapons and inflation threatening to undermine an economic recovery from two years of COVID-19 gloom.

Talks between North and South Korea collapsed in 2019 after a summit between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump and diplomacy has stalled since.

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Highlighting the "multiple crises," faced by South Korea Yoon said "Such complex, multi-faceted crises are casting a long and dark shadow over us."

Trying to boost the morale of the country, Yoon added "Koreans never succumbed; we became stronger and wiser."

Yoon, who was previously a prosecutor for 26 years, became the standard-bearer of the main conservative People Power Party, less than a year after entering politics.

(With inputs from agencies)

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