Hopes of peninsula thaw need kindling with actions

"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

For two centuries, that famous line by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley has offered numerous people in despair the hope that the dark hours will pass.

It may also have been on the mind of Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday, when he urged his country's Ministry of Unification to prepare for a thaw in relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.