Anchor: South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in held a New Year's news conference earlier this Monday, addressing a wide range of issues, including denuclearization of North Korea, strained relations with Japan, possible pardons for two former presidents convicted of corruption as well as the current coronavirus situation. While expressing his confidence that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is committed to denuclearization, Moon appeared to be hesitant to exercise his authority to pardon the former presidents.
Kim Bum-soo has wrapped up the presser.     

Report: President Moon Jae-in said it is too early to discuss whether to pardon two incarcerated former presidents. 

Moon on Monday held a New Year's news conference with 20 reporters joining him at the venue and 100 others taking part online as a coronavirus quarantine measure.  

Asked about the issue in the first question, Moon said now is not the time to discuss former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, whose convictions for corruption and other charges were only recently finalized by the Supreme Court.  

[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean-English translation)] 
"That two former presidents are behind bars is a very unfortunate situation for the nation. And there's a lot of concern since both are elderly and it's said they suffer from ill health. Nevertheless, I think now is not the time to talk of pardons. Legal proceedings have only just ended. Massive influence peddling and abuse of power were confirmed as fact, and the nation suffered tremendous losses due to that influence peddling and abuse of power. The pain and wounds suffered by South Korean citizens were also very deep. Considering the gravity of the matter, the court sentenced both to very stern, heavy punishments as well. However, to speak of pardons as soon as sentencing ends is something I think no politician - including the president - should have the right to do, even if pardons are within presidential authority." 

The president noted that a proper time will come to consider the issue, but if the general public are against the pardons, he will not push ahead with a deal that will only divide the nation further. 

On the North Korea front, Moon expressed his confidence that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is committed to denuclearization and that the nuclear issue will remain on the incoming U.S. president's priority list. 

[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean-English translation)]  
"Firstly, I think Chairman Kim clearly has the will for peace, the will for dialogue and the will for denuclearization. However, what North Korea is demanding is that in return, it receives from the United States firm guarantees of regime security and a normalization of its relations with Washington. The two sides have already agreed to that larger principle through their joint statement at the first North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore. I think the problem is that because they couldn't come to an agreement as to how to concretely and gradually execute that agreed-upon principle, the Hanoi summit fell through."  

Moon said Washington and Pyongyang will be able to find a breakthrough to the current stalemate by seeking follow up measures based on what was agreed at the Singapore summit.  

Asked by a Japanese reporter about strained Seoul-Tokyo relations, the South Korean president said the two sides should approach thorny colonial era issues case by case.   

[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean-English translation)] 
"In the case of the recent legal judgments regarding the comfort women, there was an agreement between our two governments in 2015 as well. The South Korean government recognizes that the agreement was an official agreement between the two governments. Upon that base we will negotiate with Japan to find a solution the victims who received the legal judgments can accept.  
So it is with the forced labor issue, too. I don't think it's desirable for bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan to actualize legal judgments through compulsory execution, such as liquidating [Japanese assets]. Before it gets to that stage, finding a diplomatic solution between the two countries should come first, and the plaintiffs must be able to agree to that diplomatic solution. I believe the two governments can agree to a method the plaintiffs can agree to, the South Korean government can persuade the plaintiffs as much as possible with that plan, and in that way resolve the problem in a calm and ordered way." 

Moon stressed that his government will not liquidate Japanese corporate assets seized under a ruling by the South Korean top court that ordered Japanese companies to pay reparations to the victims of wartime forced labor.  
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News