President Moon Jae-in said issues surrounding North Korea's nuclear and missile programs can be resolved after talks on establishing a permanent peace regime successfully conclude with an agreement.

At a New Year's press conference on Monday, Moon stressed that the North declaring it will reinforce its nuclear capacity or expand its weapons system comes amid an absence of such an agreement.

Emphasizing that South Korean and U.S. intelligence always thoroughly analyze the North's weapons system reinforcement, the president said Seoul possesses a sufficient nuclear and missile defense system.

Moon expected talks between the North and the U.S., and between the two Koreas, to advance with greater speed should the incoming Joe Biden administration restart from the 2018 Singapore declaration and negotiate concrete measures.