Hyun In Taek, South Korea’s Minister of Unification told a forum this morning, “As long as North Korea’s nuclear weapons exist, the process of reunification and onwards to peace on the Korean Peninsula can only be frustrated.”
Hyun was delivering a speech to “Reunification Strategy on the Korean Peninsula and Vision for Northeast Asian Mutual-Prosperity,” an event held by the Hansun Foundation for Freedom and Prosperity.
Continuing, Hyun noted, “The North Korean nuclear problem is an important element damaging the security of this region and, of course, inter-Korean relations,” before adding, “We want both Koreas to take steps towards a peaceful, national and cooperative community on a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.
However, “North Korea is still a problem.”
“North Korea,” he went on, “is pushing ahead with military adventurism and rejects denuclearization two decades after the end of the Cold War.” As a result, he added, “The people’s human rights have been constantly deteriorating in the midst of chronic economic difficulties.”
“I believe that North Korea can go no further along the path of closure and isolation,” he concluded. “Even North Korea has no choice but to choose change eventually. The international community and South Korea should help North Korea go towards reform, opening and regional cooperation rather than nuclear development.”
Meanwhile, Hansun Foundation President Park Se Il explained his view of the way to unification, featuring the emergence of a government able to lead North Korea’s denuclearization, reform and opening; separate management of North Korea after its establishment as a “special economic and administrative region”; and the preparation of a concrete blueprint for both reform and opening and the integration of North and South.
