President Moon Jae-in says that South Korea is seeking to make "irreversible" progress by the end of this year in efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and establish lasting peace in the region.

The president made the remarks in an interview published Friday, pledging his best efforts to improve inter-Korean as well as U.S.-North Korea relations and to facilitate the North's denuclearization. 

In the interview published by the Indonesian paper Kompas, Moon said that the most fundamental goal of Seoul's policy is that there must never be another war on the Korean Peninsula. 

He said that as a practical way of building trust, it would be great if a formal end to the war can be declared this year. The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two Koreas technically at war. 

The interview precedes Indonesian President Joko Widodo's three-day trip to Seoul. Widodo is set to arrive Sunday for a state visit and hold summit talks with Moon the next day.