ⓒYONHAP News

President Moon Jae-in on Saturday ended his week-long tour to Southeast Asia where he held summit talks with the leaders of Brunei, Malaysia and Cambodia.

In Brunei, Moon met with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The two leaders agreed to realign Seoul's "New Southern Policy" and the sultanate's "Vision 2035" with each other and signed a joint declaration redefining their bilateral ties.

The South Korean president recognized Brunei as a key partner in Seoul's New Southern Policy, aimed at strengthening cooperative relations with the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

Moon and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad agreed to get started on negotiating a bilateral free trade agreement during their summit talks, aiming to strike the deal within this year.

The two leaders also discussed ways to prepare for the fourth industrial revolution, promising collaboration in the areas of Information and Communication Technology, or ICT, and smart city development.

In Cambodia, Moon held summit talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen, expressing hopes that the two nations can realize a future of co-existence and co-prosperity by bringing together his New Southern Policy and Cambodia's national development plan.

Moon asked all three leaders during their separate summits to continue to support efforts toward establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Moon was briefed while in Cambodia about Pyongyang’s threat to end nuclear talks with Washington. After returning home Saturday afternoon he will continue looking for a way to break the stalemate between the two countries, a task that foreign media has described as the toughest job of his presidency.