Chung Dong-young: "Discard Denuclearization-First, Shift to Peace-First"

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young stated that the government has reformed its peace strategy and is pursuing a shift in approach from denuclearization-first to peace-first.

Ahead of the first anniversary of his inauguration, Minister Chung visited the Ministry of Unification press room and explained, "We are materializing a North Korean nuclear freeze-first strategy led by peace."

Chung remarked, "Is it realistic to put forward denuclearization-first?" and emphasized, "Superpowers like the United States and China have practically discarded denuclearization-first, haven't they? Even hardline scholars on North Korea like Victor Cha have defined the denuclearization-first theory as a failure."

He added, "Based on reality, shouting denuclearization-first in past previous administrations can be seen as largely for domestic political purposes."

He continued, "First of all, dialogue [between the two Koreas] has been cut off for 7 years. Connecting [dialogue] comes first, and if you place denuclearization-first at the entrance of dialogue, dialogue will not open."

He also stated that the Lee Jae-myung administration's North Korea nuclear policy consists of three stages (freeze, reduction, denuclearization), adding, "We changed denuclearization-first, but we are not ultimately discarding denuclearization."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.