Haenam County Announces Statement on the 3rd Anniversary of the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration at the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Forum

"Let's Advance Together with Local Governments for Inter-Korean Peace and Shared Prosperity"

Myeong Hyeon-gwan, Haenam County Governor, is delivering a statement at the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Forum. (Photo by Haenam County)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun] The National Forum for Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation, composed of 38 local governments nationwide including Haenam-gun, issued a statement on the 23rd marking the 3rd anniversary of the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration. The forum deeply reflected on all the processes for restoring inter-Korean relations and expressed the position that local governments and the North must join forces to move toward a future of peace and shared prosperity.

In the statement, the forum said, "Although it is very painful that we have not achieved as much as the expectations that once made our hearts race after three years, the times of repeated hope and disappointment were not wasted, so we regain hope."

It added, "We express unwavering expectations for the North’s efforts not to reverse the time of peace after the Hanoi summit breakdown, and we pay tribute to the current government’s efforts to restart based on the spirit of the Singapore agreement promised by the North Korean and U.S. leaders for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and complete peace, despite the complex domestic and international environment."

The forum also did not omit its expectations for direct exchange and cooperation projects between local governments and the North, which are being promoted as follow-up measures after the revision of the Act on Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation.

The forum explained, "Local governments perform independent administration for their citizens, and if the South and North compatriots combine all they have, we are confident that new opportunities will expand for our companies and people, as well as for compatriots in the North. Each local government can carry out cooperation projects reflecting its own characteristics, and by joining forces, larger-scale cooperation projects will also be possible."

Currently, the local governments belonging to the forum are preparing cooperation projects in areas such as inter-ethnic health and medical cooperation for stabilizing COVID-19 on the Korean Peninsula, forest sector cooperation in response to strengthened international environmental standards including carbon emission rights, and agricultural, fishery, and livestock cooperation projects for food sovereignty.

Along with this, they requested active support from the central government and the National Assembly to further strengthen the independence of local governments in inter-Korean exchange and cooperation projects.

Myeong Hyun-gwan, the mayor of Haenam-gun, said, "On the 3rd anniversary of the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration, we aim to pioneer a new path for inter-Korean exchange through local government-led cooperation projects. With the revision of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act creating conditions for local governments to take the lead in projects, we will do our best to discover inter-Korean exchange projects utilizing Haenam-gun’s resources."

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