President Yoon: "We must meticulously prepare bold proposals to present if North Korea accepts practical denuclearization"

Minister Kwon Young-se, Minister of Unification, Reports to President Yoon
Promoting Peaceful Unification Based on Liberal Democratic Order
"Humanitarian Exchange and Cooperation Between South and North Must Continue"
Designing Economic Cooperation and Security to Interlock According to North Korea's Denuclearization Step-by-Step Measures

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 21st, President Yoon Suk-yeol said, "If North Korea accepts practical denuclearization, prepare a realistic plan for the 'bold proposal' to be presented in close consultation with relevant ministries."

Lee Jae-myung, deputy spokesperson of the Presidential Office, conveyed that in the afternoon, after President Yoon received a briefing from Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, he said this and urged, "I hope you strengthen the capabilities for establishing, judging, and analyzing unification strategies."

The bold proposal refers to the concept of the North Korea policy "bold plan" announced by President Yoon in his inaugural speech on May 10, focusing on preparing phased economic cooperation and security guarantee measures for North Korea corresponding to its practical denuclearization steps.

President Yoon also emphasized, "(The Ministry of Unification) must clearly recognize that it is the ministry to realize and concretize Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution through unification."

Article 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea states, "The territory of the Republic of Korea shall consist of the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands," and Article 4 stipulates, "The Republic of Korea shall pursue unification and establish and promote peaceful unification policies based on the free democratic basic order."

President Yoon continued, "Unification based on the free democratic basic order specified in Article 4 of the Constitution means a unification process involving all citizens of both South and North Korea," adding, "I especially urged the prompt launch of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation, and emphasized the importance of continuing humanitarian exchanges and cooperation between the two Koreas, particularly communication and exchanges among the youth and future generations. Please also make every effort to revitalize exchanges and cooperation in arts, sports, broadcasting, and communications between the two Koreas."

Minister Kwon said in a briefing, "The characteristic of this bold plan is that, besides economic measures, it also prepares for security concerns that North Korea uses as grounds for developing nuclear weapons," and added, "Regarding economic measures, we plan to break them down into detailed steps so that when a certain level of denuclearization is achieved, we can implement corresponding measures reciprocally."

The main policies of the Ministry of Unification reported by Minister Kwon to President Yoon on this day include policy designs for the five years of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and measures to drive unification policy momentum in the first year of the administration. First, the Ministry of Unification presented a unification policy vision and three major principles and five core tasks for realization, based on the principles of not tolerating any military provocations from North Korea while developing mutually beneficial inter-Korean relations through dialogue and establishing a foundation for peaceful unification.

The five core tasks primarily focus on the complete denuclearization of North Korea and the virtuous cycle of trust-building between the two Koreas. The government plans to promote the virtuous cycle of North Korea's complete denuclearization and inter-Korean trust-building centered on the bold plan.

In particular, as a cooperation measure for joint prosperity between the two Koreas, a joint inter-Korean economic development plan will be established and implemented. This involves concretizing industrial development that can create synergy between the two Koreas, building inter-Korean infrastructure to support it, and attracting overseas investment.

The Ministry of Unification will promote normalization of inter-Korean relations based on mutual reciprocity. It also plans to establish sustainable inter-Korean relations. Furthermore, contact and talks with North Korea will be responsibly pursued according to the Inter-Korean Relations Development Act and transparently conducted through consultations with relevant ministries.

In addition, humanitarian cooperation to improve the humanitarian situation of North Korean residents will be steadily pursued regardless of political or military considerations, and practical support measures necessary for North Korean residents will be devised, according to the Ministry of Unification. In this regard, starting with COVID-19 quarantine support, health and medical cooperation will be expanded to include support for vulnerable groups and infectious disease response.

Efforts will also be made to restore ethnic homogeneity through openness and communication between the two Koreas. Even before denuclearization, active promotion of exchange and cooperation possible for restoring ethnic homogeneity will be pursued, including purely social and cultural exchanges such as the Great Korean Language Dictionary and Kaesong Manwoldae.

Moreover, to establish peaceful unification based on the free democratic basic order, solid unification preparations will be made together with the public and the international community. Minister Kwon said, "We will create a unification forum for future generations and focus on spreading unification consensus through metaverse and interactive communication," adding, "We will develop complementary and advanced plans for the national community unification plan, making this process itself a way to gather the public's will for unification. We will create this through hosting prestigious international conferences like the Davos Forum."

Regarding questions about whether there was any report or instruction from President Yoon related to the 'West Sea public official killing' incident and the 'repatriation of North Korean fishermen' incident during the briefing, Minister Kwon explained, "I did not specifically report on those matters, and the President did not make any special remarks." However, he added, "If related, President Yoon said that all aspects of inter-Korean relations must be handled according to constitutional and legal principles."

In response to a question about reports that the truth about the two fishermen during the repatriation incident was inconsistent, Minister Kwon replied, "According to the materials we internally received or were notified of at the time, there was nothing special," and added, "Recently, we heard that there are differences in very specific parts such as the method of killing and the number, but those parts were not in the materials we had."

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