Photo : YONHAP News
Anchor: President Yoon Suk Yeol has dismissed a recent call for a two-nation solution on the Korean Peninsula, calling the idea “unconstitutional.”
Kim Bum-soo reports.
Report: Former President Moon Jae-in’s chief of staff Im Jong-seok floated the so-called two-nation solution last week, suggesting that South Korea should no longer seek to reunite the two Koreas.
After returning to Seoul from his visit to Prague earlier this week, Yoon swiftly addressed Im’s proposal during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, saying it violates South Korea’s constitution.
[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean-English)]
“They had previously denounced others as ‘anti-unification’ and ‘against the Korean people’ for not agreeing with their pursuit of unification. Who do you think can accept this, when they made a 180-degree turn overnight? This is an unconstitutional idea, refusing the constitutional mandate to pursue unification under a liberal democracy.”
Im suggested that South Korea abolish its unification ministry and scrap Article 3 of the nation’s constitution, which defines the entire Korean Peninsula as South Korean territory.
[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean-English)]
“A two-nation solution is not possible as the North is calling the two sides enemies and threatening to use nuclear weapons. If we give up the aim of unification, inter-Korean conflicts and confrontation will be intensified further and worsen security risks on the Korean Peninsula. The government will establish peace not through empty words and rhetoric, but through strength and principles.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in January that unification is not possible, and that the constitution of North Korea should be revised to label the South the “principal enemy.”
Amid the heightened tension with the North, President Yoon introduced his new unification doctrine last month, seeking to expand the North Korean people’s access to outside information and encourage changes from within.
Some critics said Yoon’s new approach amounts to “unification through absorption.”
Taking to his social media page Monday, Im said a realistic approach to unification would be for the two Koreas to live as separate countries, but to cooperate peacefully and allow their citizens to move freely between the two countries.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.