Unification Minister Chung Dong-young speaks to the Nationwide Meeting International Affairs and Unification Committee in Yeouido on Nov. 28, 2025. (Yonhap)
A doc outlining three targets for North Korean coverage that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is planning to launch quickly will include a generic phrase about “a Korean Peninsula with out battle or nuclear weapons” moderately than particular language about “denuclearization” or “resolving the North Korean nuclear challenge,” the Hankyoreh has realized. This phrase will even be listed final among the many three targets.
The up to date phrasing is seemingly motivated by the truth that denuclearization is a long-term purpose that would take fairly some time to attain and that overemphasizing that purpose may undermine efforts to have interaction North Korea in dialogue.
A senior authorities official instructed the Hankyoreh on Sunday that Lee deliberate to “announce three main North Korean coverage targets” on Tuesday.
“The primary can be ‘institutionalizing peaceable coexistence,’ the second can be ‘constructing a basis for shared progress,’ and the third can be a ‘Korean Peninsula with out battle or nuclear weapons,’” they defined.
Beforehand, throughout his Nationwide Liberation Day celebratory handle on Aug. 15, Lee introduced his three ideas for North Korea coverage: respecting the North Korean regime, not pursuing reunification by absorption of the North, and never partaking in any hostile actions. The announcement of the three targets along with these ideas will successfully imply the entire articulation of the administration’s grasp plan for North Korea coverage.
A senior official with the presidential workplace confirmed that preparations had been “underway,” though they confused that it could “not be attainable to foretell [the concrete content] as a result of the president can be asserting it himself.”
Maybe essentially the most noteworthy side of the three North Korea coverage targets which are set to be introduced is the truth that content material referring to denuclearization — an space that Pyongyang has proven excessive resistance to — was positioned on the very finish within the third and last purpose. This stood in clear distinction not solely to the administrations of conservative predecessors Lee Myung-bak and Yoon Suk-yeol but additionally to earlier Democratic Social gathering administrations.
The instantly previous administration below Yoon positioned “resolving the North Korean nuclear challenge by an audacious initiative” as its No. 1 purpose. Even the Moon Jae-in administration — which emphasised engagement and cooperation with the North — put “resolving the North Korean nuclear challenge and institution of everlasting peace” on the very prime of its three coverage targets.
Sejong Institute senior analysis fellow Kim Jung-sup remarked, “Emphasizing denuclearization could also be perceived as an crucial, however it doesn’t assist in lowering the present tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”
“In that sense, this degree of adjustment within the depth seems fairly acceptable,” he added.
Additionally notable was using the extra normal phrase “a Korean Peninsula with out battle or nuclear weapons” as a substitute of a time period reminiscent of “denuclearization” or “North Korean nuclear program.” Whereas references to “denuclearization” deal with the necessity for Pyongyang to take motion to finish its nuclear program, the phrase “a Korean Peninsula with out battle or nuclear weapons” is extra of a reference to a future imaginative and prescient and last peaceable state for the Korean Peninsula.
Moreover, the time period “Korean Peninsula with out nuclear weapons” is comparatively much less off-putting to Pyongyang, because it assigns duty for denuclearization to South and North Korea alike.
Yang Moo-jin, a chair professor on the College of North Korean Research, defined that from North Korea’s standpoint, denuclearization is “burdensome as a result of it imposes actions, whereas a ‘nuclear-free Korean Peninsula’ is an aspiration.”
“It’s a sensible and complete phrase that proposes shifting ahead towards an exit moderately than getting caught on the opening of inter-Korean dialogue,” he recommended.
The primary coverage purpose of “institutionalizing peaceable coexistence” would imply making certain peaceable coexistence between the 2 sides by legal guidelines and establishments. This falls alongside the identical traces because the method beforehand advocated by Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young, who has emphasised the connection between “two peaceable states.” In impact, it’s a realist perspective wherein the 2 sides coexist as primarily two totally different nations that acknowledge one another’s regimes and chorus from partaking in hostile acts.
The second purpose of “constructing a basis for shared progress” expresses a dedication to laying the groundwork for shared prosperity, permitting each side to thrive. Whereas it echoes the final of the Moon administration’s three said targets — specifically “realizing a brand new financial group on the Korean Peninsula” — the Lee administration has ranked greater within the checklist of priorities.
As soon as introduced by Lee, the three North Korean coverage targets will function benchmarks for the course and path of North Korea coverage all through his time period, alongside the three beforehand said ideas.
These three coverage targets are additionally anticipated to be mirrored within the Nationwide Safety Technique doc — the administration’s highest-level safety doc, which features a complete define of its overseas affairs, nationwide protection, intelligence and financial safety technique — and to be enacted into legal guidelines as wanted.
By Shin Hyeong-cheol, employees reporter
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