Unification minister delivers special address at 11th Ulaanbaatar Dialogue; refers to North Korea as 'DPRK'

Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young [Yonhap]
Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young [Yonhap]

Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young said Thursday that South Korea is ready to launch four-way talks among the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the United States and China, and called for the framework to eventually expand to include Mongolia, Japan, Russia and other Northeast Asian nations.

Jeong made the proposal in a special address at the 11th Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security, held in the Mongolian capital. "To sustain peace on the Korean Peninsula, we must end the armistice regime and establish a Korean Peninsula peace regime," he said.

He outlined three pillars he said must advance together: restoring inter-Korean trust, institutionalizing a Korean Peninsula peace regime, and pushing forward multilateral dialogue in Northeast Asia. "If these three pillars move forward all at once, we can build a new peace order across all of Northeast Asia," he said, adding that such an order could bring shared growth to the region.

Jeong identified the Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) as a project with the potential to generate that momentum, and proposed linking it to Arctic shipping route cooperation and a high-speed rail connection between Seoul and Beijing.

"If GTI member states work together, we will be able to connect regional rail networks — including the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Trans-China Railway, the Trans-Mongolian Railway and a Seoul-Beijing high-speed rail line — to the Arctic shipping route," he said, describing the vision as one that could build a transformative logistics network across Eurasia.

Jeong urged the DPRK to rejoin the GTI as a full member to make the vision a reality. "The success of this initiative depends on the DPRK's re-engagement, and they stand to be its greatest beneficiaries," he said.

Throughout the address, which was delivered in English, Jeong referred to North Korea by its official name — the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — or its abbreviation, DPRK.


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