Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho (R) speaks in a meeting with Rogers Holdings Chairman Jim Rogers (L) in his office in Seoul on Dec. 11, 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s unification minister said Monday the government will make efforts to assuage foreign investors’ concerns about heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, saying his country has been beefing up a readiness posture against North Korea’s potential provocations.
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho made the remark during his meeting with U.S. investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, in Seoul amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea’s launch of a military spy satellite last month.
North Korea has vowed to restore all military measures halted under a 2018 inter-Korean military accord, after Seoul partially suspended the agreement over Pyongyang’s satellite launch.
“We’ve heard that foreign investors are very much concerned about tensions that’s escalating on the Korean Peninsula. But the government has a military readiness against the North’s possible provocations and will make many efforts to ease foreign investors’ such concerns,” Kim said.
The minister said his meeting with Rogers could be an occasion to discuss the vision of a “free and peaceful” unification of the two Koreas and economic benefits from a unified Korea.
Rogers said he believes the two Koreas will be “united someday,” expressing hope that the heavily fortified inter-Korean border could first open.
“If we don’t have the 38th parallel and if we don’t have the DMZ, Koreans could come and go. Koreans will take care of it,” Rogers said, referring to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating South and North Korea.
“If we open the border, I’ll buy the beer. We will have a big party, and we’ll invite BLACKPINK … We’ll have a band from North Korea,” he said, speaking of the K-pop girl group.
(Yonhap)
