SEOUL – Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol offered on Thursday to establish a working-level consultative body with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to discuss ways to ease tension and resume economic cooperation.
In a National Liberation Day speech marking the 79th anniversary of independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule after World War II, Yoon said he was ready to begin political and economic cooperation if DPRK "takes just one step" toward denuclearization.
Yoon used the speech as a chance to unveil a blueprint for unification and make a fresh outreach to Pyongyang, following his government's recent offer to provide relief supplies for flood damage in the DPRK which he said had been rejected.
Yoon said launching the "inter-Korean working group" could help relieve tensions and handle any issues ranging from economic cooperation to people-to-people exchanges to reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
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"We will begin political and economic cooperation the moment North Korea takes just one step toward denuclearization," he said at a ceremony in Seoul. The DPRK is also referred to as North Korea.
"Dialogue and cooperation can bring about substantive progress in inter-Korean relations."
The speech came amid a dispute with opposition lawmakers over Yoon's appointment of what they view as a pro-Japan, revisionist former professor to oversee a national independence museum, another sign of political polarization and divided opinions over Yoon's efforts to ramp up security ties with Tokyo.
Major independence movement groups which had for decades co-hosted the annual National Liberation Day events with the government held a separate ceremony for the first time in protest over the professor, joined by opposition lawmakers.
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Yoon's office has said there are "misunderstandings" about the appointment, and was seeking ways to resolve them.
