By The Straits Times | Created at 2026-08-07 08:51:51 | Updated at 2026-08-07 10:15:09
1 hour ago
SEOUL - South Korea’s Foreign and Unification ministers publicly disagreed this week over how to engage North Korea, exposing differences within President Lee Jae Myung’s government as it seeks to revive stalled contact with Pyongyang.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun called North Korean engagement proposals unveiled by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young at a Aug 6 policy meeting with Lee “idealistic,” saying they had not received the backing of other ministries.
“Since Minister Chung was speaking in idealistic terms, I would ask you to discount those remarks somewhat,” Cho told reporters.
Chung responded in comments to local reporters on Aug 7, saying that ideals were needed “to change reality.”
Chung’s proposals included launching four-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States and China as a key initiative for the second half of the year.
Cho said the ideas had not been sufficiently discussed or found consensus within the government.
The disagreement comes as Seoul has been trying to persuade North Korea to respond to a series of conciliatory gestures since Lee took office.
His administration has shifted away from a “denuclearisation-first” policy toward a “peace-first” approach, while urging US President Donald Trump to seek a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to reopen dialogue.
The Foreign and Unification ministries, when asked about the contrasting positions on Aug 7, said they would continue to coordinate policies and declined further comment.
The presidential Blue House said it did not have an immediate comment.
Analysts said any policy differences were likely to be watched closely by Pyongyang and could complicate Seoul’s efforts to re-engage with the North.
The disagreement “exposed internal differences and weakening policy momentum surrounding North Korea policy,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University.
“Internal division and conflict would reinforce North Korea’s perception that even if meaningful agreements are reached, they could easily be reversed within South Korea.”
Relations between the two Koreas have sharply deteriorated since the Covid-19 pandemic, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announcing in 2024 that Pyongyang would no longer seek reunification and demolishing joint inter-Korean projects on its territory.
Dialogue has since all but halted, and tighter North Korean border surveillance has sharply cut defections.
Just 63 North Koreans crossed south in the first half of 2026, compared with 1,047 in 2019.
Seoul has dropped measures it says could be seen by Pyongyang as hostile, including anti-North loudspeaker broadcasts, though North Korea has largely ignored such overtures.
Some rights groups have criticised Lee’s approach, contrasting it with his conservative predecessor’s more pressure-focused stance toward Pyongyang.
While South Korea co-sponsored a UN resolution on North Korean human rights in 2025, advocates say Lee has downgraded the issue to avoid antagonising the North, including by suspending some rights reports and broadcasts.
Kim Tae-Hoon, former president of the advocacy group PSCORE, told Reuters in June that the shift had dried up donations to the organisation, which fights for human rights in North Korea.
“It’s been very, very difficult,” he said. REUTERS
