Anna Hartz
The Korean Peninsula has remained divided for decades, with military tensions and the threat of nuclear weapons making peace difficult to achieve.
South Korea’s new government says it wants to change that and reopen a path toward direct talks with Pyongyang.
Stopping the expansion of nuclear capabilities
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung formally invited North Korea on Saturday to begin negotiations aimed at finally ending the conflict between the two countries, reports El Economista. He also called for discussions on ways to slow and eventually stop North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons.
Lee made the proposal during a speech marking National Liberation Day, which celebrates Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. He urged North Korea to stop threatening the South and called for an end to what he described as an unstable armistice system.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1953 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. Lee said both sides should put aside threats and begin talks as directly involved parties.
He said negotiations could also address practical ways to stop the expansion of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.
The proposal comes despite the lack of a response from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s government to recent efforts by Seoul to improve relations. Lee’s administration has continued to call for dialogue since taking office.
A stable Korean Peninsula
South Korea has also promoted what it calls a layered security system to reduce tensions on the peninsula and support wider efforts toward nuclear disarmament.
Lee said a more stable Korean Peninsula could become a source of greater security and economic cooperation. He expressed hope that the two countries could eventually meet face to face and work toward peaceful coexistence and shared economic growth.
The president also discussed South Korea’s relationship with Japan. He said renewed diplomatic efforts over the past year had helped improve cooperation in areas such as supply chains, energy and advanced technology.
Lee called for even closer cooperation with Japan to deal with common challenges.
He also announced plans to investigate and seize assets linked to people who collaborated with Japan during its colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945. The government plans to use the recovered money to support young South Koreans.
Lee said his wider goal is to make South Korea an essential industrial and technology power. He said the country should become one that the world needs and that other nations want to work with.
