Moon, Trump agree to cooperate on COVID-19 response, related N.Korea aid

Seoul, April 19 (IANS) South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart Donald Trump have agreed to continue cooperation in response to the coronavirus pandemic and reaffirmed a push for humanitarian assistance for North Korea, a government official said on Sunday.

In phone talks that lasted half an hour, Trump called South Korea’s handling of COVID-19 the “best model,” noting that it successfully held national elections earlier this week, Yonhap News Agency quoted presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok as saying.

Trump also congratulated Moon on his party’s landslide victory in the parliamentary polls, Kang added.

Moon replied that a remarkable reduction in the country’s new infections was of big help to the election win, according to the spokesman.

Despite an improvement in the pandemic situation, Moon added, the government was still considering whether to relax social-distancing measures.

On North Korea, Moon spoke highly of Trump’s efforts to engage the country for peace on the Korean Peninsula, Yonhap News Agency quoted Kang as further saying.

In connection with the pandemic, the two leaders reaffirmed the principle of providing Pyongyang with humanitarian aid, he added.

The phone conversation was Moon and Trump’s second in less than a month.

–IANS

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