S. Korea seeks to reinstate office exclusively in charge of inter-Korean dialogue

▲ Then Unification Minister nominee Chung Dong-young speaks to reporters at the entrance of the Inter-Korean Relations Management Bureau's building in central Seoul in this June 24, 2025, file photo. (Yonhap)

unification ministry-revamp

S. Korea seeks to reinstate office exclusively in charge of inter-Korean dialogue

SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- The unification ministry will reinstate the office solely in charge of inter-Korean dialogue, as the administration of President Lee Jae Myung pushes to resume severed communications with North Korea and build peace, the ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry unveiled the goal as part of its organizational revamp plan aimed at reviving its role in overseeing dialogue, exchanges and cooperation with North Korea.

The Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue, under the supervision of the unification ministry, was downgraded in rank and renamed the Inter-Korean Relations Management Bureau in 2023 under the former conservative Yoon Suk Yeol government.

With the envisioned reinstatement of the office, the ministry will seek to reopen now-suspended communication lines with North Korea, create conditions for a breakthrough in inter-Korean dialogue and establish regular talks between the two countries, the ministry said.

Under the revamp plan, the ministry also seeks to install new bureaus in charge of resuming economic cooperation projects, normalizing the suspended Kaesong Industrial Complex -- a join inter-Korean factory zone in the North's border city of Kaesong -- and collecting public opinions on policies toward Pyongyang.

Under the plan, the personnel at the ministry and its affiliated organizations will be increased to 600 from the current 533, the ministry said.

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