The Korea Times Chairman Seung Myung-ho delivers a welcome speech at 2018 Korea Forum at Shilla Hotel Seoul in Jung-gu, Seoul, May 3. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Ko Dong-hwan

The Korea Times Chairman Seung Myung-ho said at the Korea Forum 2018 on Thursday that the April 27 inter-Korean summit was "a precious opportunity that we must not miss" to secure a better future for the Korean Peninsula.

Jointly held by The Korea Times and Hankook Ilbo at The Shilla Hotel Seoul in downtown Seoul, the forum introduced Seung as he delivered a welcome speech to the hundreds of audience members including lawmakers, diplomatic envoys in Seoul, press and others interested in the geopolitical hotbed.

This year's forum took place under the title, "Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a New Order in Northeast Asia."

Korea Forum 2018 [PHOTOS] 2018-05-03 17:29  |  North Korea Gallucci: 'Lots of questions' over North Korea's denuclearization 2018-05-03 17:52  |  North Korea 'Nuclear-free Korean Peninsula' is prerequisite for inter-Korean economic cooperation 2018-05-03 11:50  |  North Korea "We must not let this opportunity go by without a fruitful outcome," Seung said. "We must check various risk factors and prepare for dangers we may face."

Seung referred to the inter-Korean summit held on the south side of the border village Panmunjeom in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, as a "truly dramatic turn of events amid the hostile atmosphere of war threats engulfing the Korean Peninsula earlier this year."

"The U.S.-North Korea summit as well as other summits involving countries around the Korean Peninsula will unfold fast," Seung said.

"The major change of history is happening right now, in that the Korean Peninsula, referred to as a 'time bomb' only until recently, has changed the region's high flammability to a sign of peace through leaders of the two countries' unprecedented meeting at Panmunjeom."

Seung, however, warned the prospects for the Korean Peninsula are not all positive, as evidenced in its history.

"If the two Koreas fail to reach a peaceful agreement, the consequence will be devastating not only for the two nations but also for nearby countries, with the level of seriousness beyond their control."

Preparation for the forum had been topsy-turvy, as the co-hosts, who had selected sustainability of income-driven economic growth as a thematic topic, apparently could not ignore the summit's dramatic effects reverberating worldwide and decided to change course.

"Because of the critically pending inter-Korean issue, we made a hard decision to take a hairpin turn just one month before the day of the forum and change the topic to the geopolitical situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," Seung said. "We thought it was our duty to deal with the most significant matter of our time right now."