Ahn Cheol-soo: "North Korean Nuclear Weapons Must Be Eliminated... Humanitarian Aid Will Continue"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, stated on the 30th regarding inter-Korean relations, “In terms of denuclearization of North Korea and political-military aspects, firm principles based on state-to-state relations rather than ethnic relations must be established and upheld.”

At the '2020 Korean Peninsula Peace Symposium' held at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, Ahn said, “For peace on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea’s nuclear weapons must be dismantled,” adding, “We must make North Korea clearly recognize that without denuclearization, it can never achieve what it desires.”

Ahn noted, “Considering the closure of the Chinese border and North Korea’s economic and social environment, the difficulties North Korea faces due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) are much greater,” and stated, “If we can alleviate the current political and military deadlock even slightly, we must never give up and continuously extend the hand of dialogue and humanitarian aid.”

Ahn emphasized, “Confusing state-to-state relations in the realm of diplomacy and security with ethnic relations, or an imbalanced intrinsic approach, will make problem-solving even more difficult,” and stressed, “We must clearly distinguish what we must uphold, what we can concede, and what we cannot do, and persuade North Korea accordingly.”

Ahn said, “To dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons and establish mutually beneficial inter-Korean relations, the current administration, opposition parties, and allied countries must form a solid cooperative system,” adding, “The Blue House, government, and ruling party should honestly and candidly share situations and information with the opposition parties and seek their cooperation.”

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