Anchor: President Moon Jae-in held a bilateral summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday and asked for Germany’s support in resolving the North Korea issue. Merkel assured that Germany stands with South Korea as it recognizes the threat North Korea poses to world peace.
Alannah Hill has more.

Report: President Moon Jae-in held bilateral talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seeking to share the German experience of achieving national unification.
 
In his first summit with Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday, Moon asked for the European country's support in dealing with North Korea. 
 
[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean)]
"North Korea tested a highly developed missile. This is naturally a great threat to the Korean Peninsula and to the world. This is a great threat and provocation. North Korea should stop this immediately and we should work on more intensive sanctions. At the G20 summit we will hold talks with various government representatives but at the same time I think that we must solve the North Korean issue through peaceful means, and for this we are very reliant on Germany's support."
 
Merkel in response expressed strong support for the South Korean government’s efforts.
 
[Sound bite: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (German)]
"I can assure you that Germany stands with the Korean people to send a clear signal that we are against this missile program, against nuclear weapons and we want to campaign for peace together."
"We support your efforts because we see that North Korea represents a great danger to world peace. The North Korean regime is continuing with its nuclear and missile program against international law. At the center of our talks we will discuss how we can best react, how we can maintain pressure and further increase sanctions."

Moon during the talks shared his assessment of the North Korean missile technologies, saying that the missile it test-fired on Tuesday appears to be close to an intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM). While noting it is unclear if the regime is capable of mounting a warhead on its missiles, Moon cautioned that the speed of the North's technological advancement is concerning. 

When Merkel revealed her plans to advise U.S. President Donald Trump that a rushed response could lead to a dangerous situation, the two leaders agreed that the current peace on the Korean Peninsula must not be disturbed.

In a preceding summit with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Moon also emphasized the need for a two-track strategy of pursuing pressure and dialogue toward North Korea, strongly opposing the outbreak of another war on the Korean Peninsula.
Alannah Hill, KBS World Radio News. 

Anchor leadout : Following his meeting with German leaders, the South Korean president also held his first summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. North Korea’s provocations, the escalating tension on the peninsula and the THAAD issue would have topped the agenda at the meeting. We will bring you an update on the South Korea-China summit in our later broadcast.

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