Foreign Minister Candidate Park Jin expressed his position on how to promote dialogue with North Korea in a written response to a personnel hearing submitted by the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.
Candidate Park said that the three Koreas will open liaison offices in Panmunjom or Washington and work to establish a system that allows for constant dialogue.
This is also the promise of Yoon Seok-yeol, the president-elect, during his candidacy.
He added that he expects that if the promise becomes a reality, regular communication and consultation between the two Koreas and the United States will be possible.
To resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, he said, "We will always keep the door to unconditional dialogue with North Korea open," he said.
The vision of the new government's North Korea policy is to "realize sustainable peace and security on the Korean Peninsula through the complete and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea."
When asked if he believes North Korea has the will to denuclearize, he said, "I do not think it has the will."
Therefore, he added that the correct policy direction would be to create conditions for North Korea to denuclearize regardless of North Korea's will, and to make North Korea realize that possessing nuclear weapons is against its own interests.
He added that although the Moon Jae-in administration made its own efforts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, it is difficult for anyone to deny that North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities have increased over the past five years.
Candidate Park responded that the diplomatic strategy for deterring North Korea's military provocations is the early restart of the Foreign and Defense Extended Deterrence Strategies Council.
He said he would try to block and delay the development of North Korea's nuclear and missile development by cutting off the necessary funds.
He also announced that he would carry out the process of appointing an ambassador for North Korean human rights, which was vacant after 2017, and said, “We will take measures such as the participation of South Korea as a co-sponsor of the UN resolution on human rights in North Korea.”
Regarding the current North Korean leaflet ban law, he said that active efforts are needed to resolve concerns, saying that it has been criticized by the US and Europe for violating freedom of expression and ignoring the importance of information flow to North Korea for improving human rights in North Korea.
(Photo = Courtesy of Assemblyman Park Jin's office, Yonhap News)