Minister Kim Young-ho: "North Korea's behavior of breaking agreements and backing out will not work under the Yoon administration"

Emphasis on Principle of Firm Response at Germany Meeting

Unification Minister Kim Young-ho expressed a tough stance on relations with North Korea, stating, "The wrong behavior of North Korea, which no longer accepts support and breaks agreements, will no longer work."

On the 1st (local time), Minister Kim made these remarks during a Q&A session at a meeting with the Democratic Peaceful Unification Advisory Council Berlin Chapter held at the H10 Hotel in downtown Berlin, Germany, saying, "Such a vicious cycle should not be expected under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration."

He emphasized, "North Korea threatens through various provocations to push for dialogue, and when countries that participated in the dialogue provide support to North Korea, after receiving it, they completely ignore it and break agreements again. This kind of wrong behavior by North Korea will no longer be tolerated."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He then clearly stated that from now on, the Yoon administration will begin to respond with principles. Minister Kim said, "The government holds the position that dialogue with the North Korean regime must proceed to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, but we do not agree with the idea that 'raising North Korean human rights issues will provoke North Korea and make inter-Korean dialogue difficult,' or that it 'will become an obstacle to the advancement of inter-Korean relations.'"

He continued, "We absolutely cannot agree that North Korea can threaten us with nuclear attacks while the Republic of Korea cannot speak out against North Korea."

He also stated, "I believe that not only the Republic of Korea but everyone in the free world should raise issues regarding the human rights of North Korean residents," adding, "Since human rights are universal values, when the Republic of Korea approaches North Korean human rights as an advanced country, it should do so from the perspective of universal values."

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