Jung Se-hyun: "Considering Recent North Korea Developments, the Korean Peninsula Peace Process Won't Be Easy"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho]Jeong Se-hyun, Senior Vice Chairman of the Democratic Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (Democratic Peace Council), said on the 4th, "Looking at North Korea's recent trends, the peace process on the Korean Peninsula does not seem to be an easy task."

Jeong delivered this outlook during his keynote speech at the Democratic Peace Council's 40th anniversary forum held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul, in the afternoon. He mentioned that the revised Workers' Party charter of North Korea omitted expressions such as "carrying out the tasks of the national liberation democratic revolution on a nationwide scale."

Jeong said, "It is as if they have institutionalized 'Two Korea' legally," and analyzed, "North Korea seems to be worried about unification, saying 'If things go wrong, we could be absorbed by South Korea.'"

He also referred to North Korea's enactment of the "Law to Reject Reactionary Ideological Culture" at the end of last year, which strengthened punishments for viewing and distributing South Korean video materials, explaining, "They are particularly emphasizing the struggle against anti-socialism and non-socialism."

Jeong expressed concern, saying, "Given such a stance, I worry whether North Korea will readily accept civilian-level support or government-level exchange cooperation as it did in the past when North Korea-US talks and inter-Korean talks resume in the future."

Professor Yang Moon-soo of the Graduate School of North Korean Studies, who participated in the discussion, analyzed, "For the South Korean government, the prolonged deadlock in North Korea-US relations and the intensifying US-China conflict have narrowed the room for maneuver."

Professor Yang forecasted, "It is a phase where policies should approach North Korea with a long-term perspective rather than a short-term one," adding, "Currently, it is not easy to elicit immediate responses from North Korea even if the government makes efforts."

He also added, "Due to the nature of inter-Korean relations, the possibility that relations could rapidly improve triggered by a specific unexpected event cannot be completely ruled out," emphasizing, "It is important to show North Korea multifaceted efforts to implement agreements."

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