Story highlights Moon says he's willing to talk to North Korean counterpart Kim

South Korean leader riven by partners' differing approaches on North Korea problem

(CNN) South Korea's president has doubled down on diplomacy at a time when tensions all around him are rising.

Days after North Korea announced it had successfully tested its first operational intercontintental ballistic missile (ICBM) , South Korea's Moon Jae-in declared he'd be willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "at any time, at any place" -- circumstances permitting.

Speaking in Berlin ahead of G20 talks in Hamburg, Moon said the reunification of East and West Germany gave him hope that peace could be achieved on the Korean Peninsula.

"To Korea, which is the last divided nation on this planet, the experience of Germany's unification gives hope for unification, and at the same time shows us the path that we need to follow," he said.

An image released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows the successful test-fire of the Hwasong-14 on July 4, 2017.

Moon's defense of diplomacy echoed former President Roh Moo-hyun's "sunshine policy" towards Pyongyang, and his predecessor Kim Dae-jung's "Berlin Doctrine," outlined in the German capital 17 years ago.