SEOUL - Even on the last day of his term, South Korea's outgoing President Moon Jae-in continued to urge dialogue with North Korea, noting that "peace is a condition for our survival and prosperity".

He gave a farewell speech that was televised on Monday morning to mark the end of his five-year tenure.

Nuclear talks have stalled since 2019, but the dovish leader, who put North Korea on the top of his policy agenda, hoped that "efforts to denuclearise and resume dialogue would continue".

Negotiations between the United States and North Korea fell apart in 2019 over differences in denuclearisation steps and sanctions relief.

Pyongyang has since gone back to testing missiles while leaving the door to dialogue open, but Washington has been distracted by other priorities such as the war in Ukraine.

While Mr Moon met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times and helped to broker the 2018 summit between Mr Kim and then US president Donald Trump, critics said Mr Moon staked too much political capital on the North, with little concrete gain.

During his farewell speech, Mr Moon defended his peace policy, saying that he averted a possible war on the Korean peninsula during the 2017 "fire and fury" era when the US and North Korea were hurling threats at each other.

"(The crisis) turned into a phase of dialogue and diplomacy and raised hopes for a new era of peace and prosperity," he said.

"The reason why we couldn't move forward was not because we lacked effort and determination, but rather, there was a barrier that we couldn't overcome with sheer determination."

Looking back on his five-year term, Mr Moon said the country managed to emerge stronger from various crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, a shortage of urea water and "Japan's unfair export restrictions".

"We overcame the crisis with the united strength of the people and we took the opportunity to become self-reliant," he said, referring to the trade spat with Japan.

He also praised the people's cooperation in overcoming the pandemic, such that South Korea's economy "recovered the fastest and grew significantly to reach a per capita income of US$35,000 (S$49,000)". 

He also said the country is now leading the world in many fields, such as healthcare and quarantine efforts, digital economy and innovation, and climate response.

Mr Moon hoped that his successor Yoon Suk-yeol will "continue the successful history of Korea by inheriting and developing the accumulated achievements of the previous governments".

"I hope that the nation will grow stronger and move forward to a better future," he said. "I put down a heavy burden as president. Now, I go back to the life of an ordinary citizen."

Mr Moon and his wife left the presidential Blue House located at the foot of a mountain in the central Jongno district at 6pm on Monday.

He will be the last president to use the Blue House, as his successor Mr Yoon has decided to open up the space to the public and shift his office to a location in Yongsan district instead.

Hundreds of people, many clad in blue and holding blue balloons, turned up to send Mr Moon and his wife off.

The couple were seen greeting citizens with big smiles on their faces, and Mr Moon took time to shake many outstretched hands.

They will attend Mr Yoon's inauguration on Tuesday morning, before taking a train to their retirement home in south-eastern city Yangsan near Busan.