President Lee calls for Korea peace talks to end war and curb North Korea nuclear threat
In his Liberation Day address, President Lee Jae Myung called for talks to replace the Korean Peninsula’s armistice with peace and curb North Korea’s nuclear advances.
President Lee Jae Myung said Saturday that South Korea “will embark on a journey to end war and transform the Korean Peninsula’s unstable armistice into a peace regime,” calling on the two Koreas to “drop all intentions of threatening one another and initiate dialogue among directly concerned parties to conclude this long war.”
Speaking at South Korea’s 81st Liberation Day ceremony in Seoul, Lee said such dialogue could also help “devise effective ways to curb advances in the North’s nuclear capabilities.”
The proposal builds on the three principles toward Pyongyang that Lee set out in last year’s address — respecting the North’s political system, ruling out unification by absorption and forgoing hostile acts. This year he went further, formally calling for talks involving South Korea, North Korea and the United States, or those three plus China, to work toward a peace regime.
The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a ceasefire agreement signed by the U.S.-led United Nations Command, North Korea and China. However, a permanent peace has proved elusive, with both Koreas remaining technically at war.
Lee outlined three principles for pursuing a peace regime.
On inclusivity, he said the two Koreas “must each work to become less hostile, starting with our perceptions, norms and institutions,” adding that he hoped “the South and the North can sit down together to pursue peaceful coexistence and shared growth.”
On stability, he said Seoul would “institute mechanisms for managing tensions and conflicts, along with multiple safeguards for preventing crises and escalation.”
On South Korea’s broader contribution, he said peace on the peninsula “will, in turn, bolster security and cooperation in Northeast Asia and mark a milestone on the path toward a nuclear-weapon-free world.”
On relations with Japan, Lee said that “Korea and Japan have built a foundation of trust through dynamic shuttle diplomacy” over the past year, and that deepening the relationship was central to South Korea taking on a larger role internationally.
He said his government would keep pursuing “pragmatic diplomacy centered on national interests” and voiced hope the two countries could build on their trust to enter “another sixty years of peace and prosperity, as close neighbors and kindred spirits.”
Where his first Liberation Day address a year ago emphasized coexistence, Lee’s message this year centered on the future. “We now need a new liberation for the Republic of Korea to rise further,” he said, casting his goal as building “an irreplaceable Republic of Korea — a country the world cannot do without.”
He pledged to “fundamentally realign Korea’s resources and capabilities and redraw the nation’s plans for growth,” to ensure “that the fruits of that growth are enjoyed equitably by our people.”
Lee also called for more unified domestic politics, saying “differences must not engender hostility, nor should hatred, exclusion or conflict be allowed to hinder the nation’s progress,” and pledged a “politics of compromise and coexistence” as global economic competition intensifies.
On historical issues, Lee reaffirmed his government’s push to recover assets accumulated by pro-Japanese collaborators, citing legislation enacted in June, and said proceeds from confiscated collaborator assets would go toward “honoring and supporting decorated independence activists and surviving family members.”
BY OH HYUN-SEOK [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]