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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks to reporters aboard the presidential jet on Nov. 23, 2025, as he departs from the G20 summit in South Africa to the following leg of his journey in Turkey. (Yonhap)
“Even probably the most hostile nations preserve hotlines for emergencies. However all connections between North and South Korea have been severed. That is a particularly harmful scenario,” President Lee Jae Myung instructed reporters Sunday aboard the presidential aircraft en route from South Africa to Ankara, Turkey.
It was a degree of despair and concern relating to the present state of inter-Korean relations hardly ever seen from the president, who took workplace in June.
Lee famous that it’s normally the case for 2 sides to “shake fingers with one hand even whereas preventing with the opposite,” however communication between North and South Korea has been fully severed.
“It’s a very harmful scenario through which an unplanned conflict may occur at any time,” Lee emphasised. “There’s no response even to efforts to repatriate unconverted long-term prisoners over 90 years of age, who may move away at any time.” This seems to consult with the case of 95-year-old Ahn Hak-sop, a former North Korean soldier who was jailed within the South for many years as a result of he refused to recant his allegiance to the North, whose repatriation is being pursued by civil society organizations.
Lee criticized the Yoon Suk-yeol administration for egocentric actions that led to the dire present scenario on the Korean Peninsula.
“[Yoon] handled the nationwide pursuits of unification and safety as objects of political technique, and introduced all [diplomatic relations] to break,” the president stated of his predecessor.
Describing the present scenario as “karma,” Lee added, “To alleviate this karma, we should make investments extra time and effort than [those acts that led to] it. We should persistently convey our goodwill to [create] even the smallest opening.” In different phrases, Lee intends to convey sincerity by way of persistent effort even when there isn’t any fast response.
For instance of such endeavors, Lee talked about South Korea’s joint army workouts with the US, a matter he stated North Korea was “most delicate” to.
“Some argue that we must always proactively contemplate lowering their scale or suspending the workouts,” he famous, including that such choices “may both be the end result or leverage” of building peace. Nonetheless, Lee additionally expressed warning.
“As soon as a stable peace regime is established between the 2 Koreas, it could be greatest to not maintain [the joint exercises]. However proper now it’s tough to foretell which method [inter-Korean relations] will develop,” he stated.
Relating to the current escalation of tensions between China and Japan, Lee remarked, “Whereas the battle between China and Japan has intensified considerably over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks, from [South Korea’s] perspective, we should calmly observe the present scenario and do our utmost to make sure our nationwide pursuits usually are not undermined however maximized.”
Lee stated this is the reason he held casual conferences with each China and Japan in the course of the Group of 20 summit in South Africa; he scheduled a summit with Japan to strike a steadiness with the assembly he had with Chinese language Premier Li Qiang.
Relating to Western nations’ strikes to comprise China noticed in the course of the G20 summit, Lee underscored his precept of pursuing pragmatic diplomacy. When German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron requested Lee about his stance towards China throughout their summits, Lee reportedly said, “From a army safety perspective, we should decide and act primarily based on the ROK-US alliance. But, contemplating geographical, historic, and financial ties, we can’t sever relations with China both.”
Lee said that he “faithfully defined South Korea’s primary place” in the course of the talks with Li to stop any misinterpretation.
Relating to the outcomes of his Center East and Africa tour, Lee said, “The United Arab Emirates [summit] yielded probably the most important outcomes, as chief of employees Kang Hoon-sik visited earlier on as a particular envoy to prepare areas of cooperation and establish particular tasks.”
He famous that whereas expectations for Egypt weren’t significantly excessive, there have been many promising proposals, such because the one for Korean firms to undertake and function the Cairo Worldwide Airport enlargement venture, valued at 3 trillion to 4 trillion gained (US$2 billion to 2.7 billion).
By Um Ji-won, employees reporter
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