Government: "Difficult to Hold Joint Inter-Korean Event for June 15 Declaration... Planning Independent Event"

North Korea Remains Silent on South Korea's Proposal

Yeosang-gi, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Unification

On the 20th anniversary of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration, the government's plan to hold joint events with the North and ease the strained inter-Korean relations has effectively fallen through.

On the 15th, Yeosang-gi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification, said at a regular briefing held at the Government Seoul Office Complex that when asked whether there was an intention to propose joint events to the North on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the June 15 Declaration, "While we recognize the necessity of joint events, it is difficult to hold large-scale (joint) events as COVID-19 has not yet ended." He added, "We are currently planning our own events that align with the purpose of the June 15 joint events."

Spokesperson Ye also added, "(Civil organizations) proposed joint events to the North earlier this year, but there has been no response yet."

The government had previously announced on the 24th of last month through the '2020 Inter-Korean Relations Development Implementation Plan' that it planned to hold exchanges and joint commemorative events between the North and South in cooperation with civil organizations to mark the 20th anniversary of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration this year.

However, North Korea has not responded to repeated South Korean proposals for inter-Korean cooperation, including the June 15 joint events, inter-Korean railway connection, and quarantine cooperation.

Instead, North Korea has been mobilizing propaganda media to criticize South Korea daily.

On this day, the external propaganda media Uri Minjokkkiri published an article titled "What Will Follow the Clown Show?" referring to the publication of the Human Rights White Paper by the Korea Institute for National Unification on the 11th, claiming, "This is a serious political provocation against our Republic, which prioritizes the dignity and rights of the people, and a confrontational act that causes distrust and antagonism among compatriots and drives inter-Korean relations to a crisis."

It also did not hesitate to criticize President Moon by mentioning the "South Korean rulers." The media stated, "The South Korean rulers talk about 'cooperation' in front but secretly order their subordinates to collect the excrement left by defector trash to make provocative materials," adding, "One cannot help but question whether they are sane."

When asked for a comment on Uri Minjokkkiri's report, spokesperson Ye responded, "The government does not separately comment on mentions by North Korean propaganda media as per usual practice."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.