WATCH: Moon calls for economic engagement with North Korea

South Korea’s president is calling for economic engagement with rival North Korea in return for progress on nuclear disarmament.

Moon Jae-in, who favors reaching out to the North, also told leaders Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly that his nation “will guarantee the security of North Korea. I hope North Korea will do the same for South Korea.”

Moon says that mutual security assurances would then allow faster nuclear disarmament and peace on the Korean Peninsula, which is still technically in a state of war.

He called for an “international peace zone” between the divided Koreas with U.N. offices and other international groups stationed there.

Despite a string of summits between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim, there’s a lingering standoff on how to get the North to abandon its nuclear and missile program.