This file photo, taken Dec. 1, 2023, shows North Korean defectors looking for information at a job fair for such refugees held at the COEX exhibition center in southern Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Mar. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The unification ministry said Friday it will draw up a new vision for unification between the two Koreas to include the principle of liberal democracy amid North Korea’s vow not to seek unification with the South.
The government earlier said it plans to update the National Community Unification Formula, South Korea’s unification vision unveiled in August 1994 under the administration of late President Kim Young-sam.
In a 2024 policy briefing to President Yoon Suk Yeol, the ministry said there is a need to take into account changes in the security situation and muster global support for Seoul’s unification policy in drawing up a new unification vision.
“In response to North Korea’s policy shift into an anti-national and anti-historical stance, the year 2024 will be the most appropriate time to actively lay out our unification vision and lead the North’s change,” the ministry said.
The move comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has defined inter-Korean ties as relations between “two states hostile to each other,” and vowed not to seek unification and reconciliation with South Korea.
The National Community Unification Formula is based on three principles of seeking independence, peace and democracy. The three-stage vision calls for the pursuit of reconciliation and cooperation, the creation of a Korean commonwealth and the completion of a unified country.
The Yoon government sees the existing unification formula as leaving out the philosophy of liberal democracy, raising the need to embody its vision for a “liberal democracy-based unification.”
In a speech marking the 105th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement, Yoon said unification is precisely “what is needed to expand the universal values of freedom and human rights.”
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho told a radio program this week that the new unification blueprint will likely include the promotion of North Korean people’s freedom and human rights and North Korea’s denuclearization.
Meanwhile, the ministry plans to release the 2024 report on North Korea’s human rights abuses in June following its first such report issued last year.
This year’s paper will delve into toiling North Korean workers overseas, forced repatriations of North Korean defectors and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also deal with the North’s right violations related to the law banning people from distributing or watching media originating from South Korea and other countries.
The ministry also plans to strengthen support for North Korean defectors in a bid to protect such people who might be living in so-called welfare blind spots of welfare.
It will shift the goal of the resettlement policy for the North’s defectors into “family-centered” support from “individual-focused” when it establishes a three-year basic support plan for them this year.
Touching on stalled inter-Korean relations, the ministry said it will maintain the stance that Seoul is open to dialogue with Pyongyang without preconditions.
The ministry will push to restore the now-suspended inter-Korean communication channels to brace for needs to deal with urgent humanitarian issues, without disclosing details.
Since April last year, North Korea has not responded to daily phone calls through an inter-Korean liaison line and military hotline, without specifying reasons.
(Yonhap)
