A minister’s phrases carry specific weight — all of the extra so when that minister leads the company steering North Korea coverage for the Lee Jae Myung administration, which seeks rapprochement with Pyongyang.
In current months, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young’s statements have typically appeared uncoordinated with different safety and overseas coverage officers, leaving them scrambling to maintain the federal government’s message straight.
On Thursday, he informed reporters that cutting down South Korea-U.S. joint army workouts is perhaps essential to create circumstances for renewed U.S.-North Korea diplomacy.
On Monday, ministry spokesperson Yoon Min-ho clarified that Chung’s remark mirrored the broader implications of the workouts. Whereas related ministries talk intently, no particular changes are being mentioned, the spokesperson stated, suggesting that Chung’s remarks had not been coordinated with protection officers prematurely.
This isn’t the primary time the unification minister’s feedback on army drills have raised eyebrows.
When Chung took workplace in July, he stated he would advocate cutting down the annual South Korea-U.S. Ulchi Freedom Defend train in August, leaving army officers puzzled since preparations for the drills have been almost full. In September, Chung advised halting live-fire and discipline workouts alongside the inter-Korean border.
“Troopers want to coach. We can not unilaterally cease the workouts except the opposite facet [North Korea] does it first,” Protection Minister Ahn Gyu-back stated throughout an October press convention, drawing a line at Chung’s recommendations.
Chung’s strategy to inter-Korean relations, together with his advocacy for a “peaceable two-state” association between South and North Korea, has additionally underscored a scarcity of coordination with safety officers.
In September, he acknowledged that the federal government ought to acknowledge that “the 2 Koreas are separate states in actuality.” This put him at odds with Nationwide Safety Advisor Wi Sung-lac, who stated the federal government doesn’t endorse or take a place on the two-state principle.
Chung later clarified that his feedback mirrored the unification ministry’s stance, not the official place of your entire authorities.
The newest confusion arose amid hypothesis that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean chief Kim Jong-un would possibly maintain a summit on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation (APEC) assembly that was held in late October.
On Oct. 15, the unification minister stated in an interview that there was a excessive likelihood of a Trump-Kim assembly going down through the APEC summit, citing “associated info and knowledge.” He was among the many few officers to specific agency confidence within the prospect, as others struck a extra cautious tone.
The next day, the Ministry of Overseas Affairs issued a press release relating to Chung’s remarks, saying it had “no information of any concrete progress” in U.S.-North Korea talks. It was extremely uncommon for a ministry to publicly contradict a minister of one other division.
Inside and past the ministry, some fear that Chung’s more and more daring remarks might undermine his long-cultivated repute as a veteran North Korea policymaker.
Chung, who additionally served as unification minister beneath former President Roh Moo-hyun, is a key advocate of the Sunshine Coverage — a landmark engagement technique that sought reconciliation with Pyongyang by dialogue and financial cooperation.
His return to Cupboard was considered as a lift to a ministry that had been largely sidelined beneath former President Yoon Suk Yeol, whose administration took a hawkish stance on North Korea.
Since taking workplace, Chung has shortly restored key features that have been scaled again beneath Yoon, reminiscent of inter-Korean dialogue channels and humanitarian change applications, incomes him reward from inside the ministry.
Nonetheless, even a veteran policymaker can create confusion when his voice clashes with the remainder of the federal government.
With hopes rising for a potential U.S.-North Korea summit early subsequent yr, Chung’s management would require cautious coordination with different safety officers to make sure his daring concepts can translate right into a coherent coverage.
