▲ This file photo, taken July 11, 2022, shows the Unification Bridge in Paju, just north of Seoul. It serves as the main gateway to the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas. (Yonhap)

Koreas-relations

Unification ministry eyes peaceful coexistence with N. Korea under 5-yr vision for inter-Korean ties

SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- The unification ministry said Thursday it will draw up a five-year blueprint for developing inter-Korean relations that aims at promoting peaceful coexistence with North Korea, as Seoul seeks to resume dialogue with Pyongyang.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young presided over a pangovernment meeting earlier in the day to deliberate on a five-year basic plan for developing inter-Korean ties under the Lee Jae Myung administration, according to ministry officials.

The envisioned plan will center on Lee's efforts to bring peace and coexistence to the Korean Peninsula in a marked shift from the previous plan under the former conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration that focused on North Korea's denuclearization.

Since taking office in June last year, Lee has vowed to mend strained ties with North Korea and seek inter-Korean dialogue in an effort to ease tensions on the peninsula.

Lee has emphasized that his administration respects the North Korean system and will not pursue any form of unification by absorption nor engage in any hostile acts against the North.

At a key party meeting in late 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared inter-Korean relations as those between "two states hostile to each other" and vowed not to seek unification with South Korea.

"Our policy goal is peace itself. The idea of using peaceful coexistence as means to do something against the other side does not exist in our policy at all," Minister Chung said at the meeting.

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