Kwon Young-se "Will Strive to Create Conditions for North Korea's Acceptance of Bold Plans and Secure Support from Relevant Countries"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 18th, Kwon Young-se, Minister of Unification, emphasized that he will focus on creating conditions that North Korea can accept and securing the support of related countries regarding the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's North Korea policy, the 'Bold Initiative.'

Minister Kwon appeared at the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee plenary session in the morning and reported on the direction of follow-up measures for the 'Bold Initiative' through a work report. The Bold Initiative is the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's North Korea policy that provides corresponding economic, military, and political measures in accordance with the sequence of North Korea's denuclearization steps.

Minister Kwon explained, "In the future, we will send more specific messages to North Korea on major occasions and continue efforts to explain the 'Bold Initiative' both domestically and internationally."

He added, "We will also focus on close consultations with the United States and securing the support of related countries such as China," emphasizing, "Through cooperation with relevant ministries, we will concretize the implementation plans of major projects, including the promotion system, step-by-step detailed project contents, and North Korea consultation methods, and prepare for North Korea consultations."

Regarding the 'Bold Initiative,' Minister Kwon described it as "a bold and comprehensive plan that includes economic, political, and military corresponding measures according to North Korea's substantial progress in denuclearization."

He also reaffirmed that economic support measures will be actively considered from the initial negotiation process. Specifically, he reported that food supply programs linked to North Korea's underground resources and livelihood improvement projects in health, water supply, sanitation, and forestry sectors will be proactively initiated and promoted, and five major projects in three areas? infrastructure construction, livelihood improvement, and economic development?will be pursued in line with the stage of substantial denuclearization.

The five major projects are ▲support for power generation and transmission infrastructure ▲modernization of ports and airports ▲agricultural technology support ▲modernization of hospital and medical infrastructure ▲international investment and financial support programs.

To this end, Minister Kwon reported that the establishment of the 'Inter-Korean Joint Economic Development Committee (tentative name)' will be promoted to discuss and coordinate inter-Korean cooperative projects. He also reported that the Ministry of Unification is preparing to launch the North Korean Human Rights Foundation as part of efforts to improve North Korean human rights, stating, "We will strive to ensure the proper implementation of the North Korean Human Rights Act. Through cooperation with the National Assembly, we will form the board of directors of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation and the advisory committee for the promotion of North Korean human rights."

Regarding recent North Korean trends, he evaluated, "Within 80 days of our government's inauguration, North Korea expressed a hardline stance toward South Korea and officially declared a hostile policy." Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, for the first time mentioned President Yoon by name at the anniversary event of the armistice agreement, which North Korea calls Victory Day, on the 27th of last month, inciting hostility by saying, "If a preemptive strike is attempted, the Yoon administration and military will be annihilated." Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Director of the Workers' Party, also made retaliatory remarks on the 10th at the National Emergency Anti-epidemic Summary Meeting, shifting responsibility for the internal spread of COVID-19 in North Korea onto South Korea.

The Ministry of Unification analyzed this by stating, "Chairman Kim Jong-un declared victory in epidemic prevention at the National Emergency Anti-epidemic Summary Meeting and announced a transition from the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system to a normal epidemic prevention system with heightened tension, but North Korea is expected to take a cautious approach to substantive easing of epidemic prevention measures such as the full lifting of lockdowns."

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