South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday proposed setting up a consultative body with North Korea to discuss ways to ease tensions and resume economic cooperation, as he outlined his vision for unification with the neighboring country.
In a National Liberation Day speech marking the 79th anniversary of independence from World War II, Yoon said he was ready to begin political and economic cooperation if North Korea took “just one step” toward denuclearization.
Yoon used the speech as an opportunity to announce his unification plan and renewed outreach to Pyongyang, following his government’s recent offer of flood aid to the North, which he said was rejected.
However, a unified Korean peninsula seems a distant prospect for most people on both sides of the border, according to Reuters.
Relations between the two Koreas have been strained in recent months, with North Korea stepping up weapons testing and launching balloons loaded with trash across the border.
South Korea has responded by resuming propaganda broadcasts across the border, suspending a military agreement to reduce tensions and restarting live-fire drills near the border.
At the start of the year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called South Korea a “main enemy” and said unification was no longer possible.
Yoon said the creation of an “inter-Korean working group” could help ease tensions and address everything from economic cooperation to reuniting families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
“We will start political and economic cooperation as soon as North Korea takes a step toward denuclearization. Dialogue and cooperation can bring about substantial progress in inter-Korean relations,” he said.
