통일부, 올해 '담대한 구상' 이행 본격화 “민간단체•국제기구 통해 대북접촉 모색
In its beginning-of-the-year report to the top office, Seoul’s Unification Ministry today revealed its core policies for this year that are aimed at mending inter-Korean relations.
Its key plans are to restore dialogue with Pyongyang and improve the human rights situation for the people of North Korea.
Kim Mok-yeon with the details.
Normalizing inter-Korean relations by officially kick-starting the Yoon administration’s so-called “audacious initiative” is one of the South Korean government’s core inter-Korean policies for the year 2023.
"We will specify the details of the government's audacious initiative by taking into consideration not only the regime's economic situation but also its political and military situation. We will strengthen efforts to implement the initiative together with the United States."
That's what Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said in a press briefing after his beginning-of-the-year report to President Yoon Suk Yeol.
There, Minister Kwon said seven key policy objectives have been laid out to the top office, largely aimed at laying the groundwork for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
In order to pursue such plans amid ties frayed by the regime’s continued missile launches, the government plans to actively seek breakthroughs through BOTH direct and indirect contact with North Korea, be it through civic groups or international organizations.
A senior unification ministry official explained that this is why Minister Kwon has lately been meeting with the heads of UNICEF and the World Food Programme to seek ways to reach out to the North.
If talks resume, the ministry hopes to restart repatriation programs and reunions for separated families and also to cooperate in agriculture, forestry and responding to natural disasters.
The Ministry also vowed to boost efforts to improve the human rights situation in Pyongyang.
“We will publish our annual report on the North's human rights records and provide it in both Korean and English.”
Alongside this, the ministry will push for the swift launch of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation, which has been delayed for years by political wrangling.
In the meantime, the ministry will see through the work of the foundation until it's officially launched.
Also, to help South Koreans understand North Korea better and rebuild a sense of cross-border nationhood, the ministry is considering allowing public access to the regime's official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, in designated places.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.
#Unification_Ministry #Audacious_initiative #Arirang_News
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2023-01-27, 21:00 (KST)
