Jeong Dongyoung: "North Korea Now One of Three Countries Capable of Striking the U.S. Mainland... We Must Acknowledge It"

On the 29th (local time), Jeong Dongyoung, Minister of Unification, stated, "North Korea has now become one of the three countries capable of striking the U.S. mainland," adding, "We need to acknowledge what must be acknowledged with a clear mind."

Jeong Dongyoung, Minister of Unification. Photo by Yonhap News

According to Yonhap News, Minister Jeong, who is currently visiting Germany, held a press conference in Berlin on this day and said, "North Korea's strategic position has changed. It is different from seven years ago, when the North Korea-U.S. summit was held."

Minister Jeong recalled that after the so-called 'Hanoi No Deal' incident in 2019, then-North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Sonhui remarked that "the United States missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," and commented, "Unfortunately, that statement turned out to be true." He added, "If a small deal had been reached, the course of the nuclear issue would have been very different."

Regarding North Korean leader Kim Jongun's recent policy speech at the Supreme People's Assembly, in which he hinted at a willingness to engage in dialogue with the United States, Minister Jeong said, "Nearly half of Chairman Kim's message was directed at the United States and South Korea," and assessed the possibility of resuming North Korea-U.S. talks positively, saying, "Both leaders have now expressed a desire to meet each other."

On the possibility of inter-Korean dialogue, Minister Jeong said, "If Chairman Kim's statement about wanting to follow 'the path of Vietnam' (which pursued reform and opening) is sincere, then inter-Korean cooperation is the only way forward." He added, "North Korea may have reached a strategic position where it no longer needs to tighten the people's belts, but since it has not yet achieved improvements in people's livelihoods, there is still demand for engagement with South Korea."

In response to criticism that the 'peaceful two-state theory' advocated by the Lee Jaemyung administration violates the constitutional territorial clause, he argued, "De facto state and de jure state recognition-those are empty words with no practical use," and insisted, "We need to resume exchanges and cooperation in this way."

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