Unification Ministry briefing to National Assembly foreign affairs committee

Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young delivers a briefing at a plenary session of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Aug. 19. [Yonhap]
Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young delivers a briefing at a plenary session of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Aug. 19. [Yonhap]

North Korea is watching developments closely while demanding that the United States drop what Pyongyang calls its "three hostile policies" — denuclearization pressure, human rights criticism and joint military exercises — as a precondition for resuming US-North Korea dialogue, South Korea's Ministry of Unification said Thursday. Seoul said it would play a "pacemaker" role to help bring about US-North Korea talks, capitalizing on an opening created by President Donald Trump's order to scale back joint military exercises, and would then work to channel any diplomatic momentum into multilateral talks aimed at building a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

The ministry presented a report titled "Recent North Korean Trends and Future Policy Direction" at a plenary session of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Thursday.

According to the report, North Korea has recently been showcasing solidarity with China and Russia while signaling its negotiating conditions to Washington. Kim Yo-jong, vice director of the Korean Workers' Party, emphasized personal ties between the two leaders in response to Trump's conciliatory gestures — including his order to reduce joint exercises — but also demanded the United States "abandon its hostile policy toward Korea" on Aug. 19. North Korea's Foreign Ministry then explicitly cited denuclearization, human rights and military threats — including exercises such as Freedom Edge — as the "three hostile policies," signaling them as preconditions for any future US-North Korea dialogue on Aug. 31. However, North Korea calibrated its response to Freedom Edge, the trilateral South Korea-US-Japan exercise held Sept. 7-11: it issued a defense minister's statement of condemnation and launched a ballistic missile on Saturday, but refrained from sending any separate public diplomatic message.

On inter-Korean relations, Pyongyang has been firmly blocking Seoul's attempts to engage in US-North Korea diplomacy. Kim Yo-jong harshly criticized the South Korean government's welcoming response to the exercise reduction, invoking the South Korean president by name and using terms such as "master-servant relationship," "puppet" and "double-tongued behavior." The ministry assessed that North Korea is monitoring Seoul's North Korea policy positions and statements in real time. Domestically, Pyongyang has focused on consolidating internal cohesion — carrying out military personnel reshuffles and economic reviews through the fourth expanded Politburo meeting and the second session of the Party Central Military Commission, and invoking "naval nuclear armament" at the commissioning ceremony of a new destroyer.

The ministry said it would move forward with the "three blueprints for peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula" announced in this year's Liberation Day address. The specific tasks outlined include restoring inter-Korean communication channels and reviving the Sept. 19 military agreement for stable peaceful coexistence; eliminating mutual hostility and promoting civilian exchanges and four peace-exchange projects for inclusive peaceful coexistence; and halting the advancement of North Korea's nuclear capabilities through ending the war and transitioning to a peace regime, for responsible peaceful coexistence.

The government said it particularly intends to seize the opening for resumed US-North Korea dialogue created by Trump's decision to scale back joint CPX. "We will support the realization of US-North Korea talks through a pacemaker role, and work to channel the momentum from those talks into multilateral dialogue aimed at building a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula," the ministry said. "A peace regime in which there is no need to fight is the most complete security asset and the fundamental solution to the Korean Peninsula issue."


sunpine@heraldcorp.com