The South Korean government is warning its northern counterparts that the Unification Ministry is no longer interested in providing comprehensive support.
According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced the shift in stance toward North Korea on Sunday after designating a conservative ministerial chief.
South Korea's Unification Ministry to Shift Focus
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a press conference with Vietnam's President at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on June 23, 2023.
Since the Korean War, when the peninsula was split in half, the Unification Ministry of South Korea has been entrusted with sustaining contact with its northern neighbor. As per Fox News, the ministry has shifted in response to the warming and cooling of relations with North Korea.
As a result of increased US-South Korea military exercises and North Korean weapon tests, tensions between the North and South have heightened during the presidency of Joe Biden. In solidarity with its allies, Russia and China, the hermit kingdom has also reverted to an aggressively anti-American stance.
After appointing a new unification minister a few days earlier, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stated on Sunday that the ministry had in the past placed too much emphasis on delivering aid to North Korea and needed to alter its approach.
Kim Yung-ho, the new minister, is a conservative scholar and outspoken critic of human rights atrocities in North Korea, which Yoon has sought to highlight in the context of escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea Urges to Defend Liberal Values
Per AOL, Yoon also urged the ministry to defend liberal democratic values and stated that unification should result in a "better and more humane existence" for the South and North Koreans.
Kim wrote in a 2019 online column that reunification would be clear once Kim Jong Un's "regime is overthrown and North Korea is emancipated."
A high-ranking representative from Yoon's office explained: "The unification ministry will primarily analyze and respond to the most recent trends in North Korea, as well as manage human rights issues in North Korea."
Kim Yung-ho, a conservative scholar nominated for the ministerial position on Friday, has stated that human rights violations in North Korea's secretive regime must be highlighted to exert pressure on the country and that Seoul's inter-Korean policy must prioritize human rights in North Korea.
Per Korea Times, critics believe that Kim's appointment, once finalized in a parliamentary confirmation hearing, could undermine the role of the Ministry of Unification, which prioritizes exchanges and reconciliation with the North.
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