ROK president calls for talks to end trade row with Japan

SEOUL - Moon Jae-in, president of the Republic of Korea, on Thursday offered an olive branch to Japan to end an ongoing trade dispute, saying Seoul will "gladly join hands" if Tokyo wants to talk.

Moon in a nationally televised speech also downplayed the threat posed by Pyongyang's recent short-range ballistic launches and expressed hope that Washington and Pyongyang would soon resume nuclear negotiations. He also vowed to build a peace economy on the Korean Peninsula with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea through dialogue and cooperation.

The denuclearization talks between the DPRK and the United States have been stalled, but the working-level talks between the two sides would be resumed in the near future after top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump met at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in June, he said.