PRAGUE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol's office on Thursday denounced the liberal politicians' calls for South Korea's peaceful coexistence with North Korea, reiterating the conservative administration's push for peaceful reunification as enshrined in the " Unification Doctrine" in August.
An official of the presidential office said on condition of anonymity in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, that the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula "has garnered the support of the international community including the Czech Republic."
The official added that those who think otherwise and instead follow the concept of the peaceful coexistence of the two Koreas -- either by prioritizing peace over reunification or by introducing the confederation system on the peninsula -- would "sympathize with the intention of the North Korea regime."
This was in response to the claims by liberal former president Moon Jae-in that the current discourse over the peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula "needs a complete review," at a forum Thursday in Gwangju to mark the sixth anniversary of the inter-Korean summit and the comprehensive military agreement in 2018.
Former chief of staff Im Jong-seok, who worked with Moon, also said at the venue that Seoul should "face the reality and accept the notion of the confederation of the two Koreas." He also urged the repeal of the National Security Act.
Im also called for the revision of the Constitution, which states that the territory of South Korea "shall consist of the Korean peninsula and its adjacent islands," saying the article "triggers an aversion to a proactive peace process and reconciliation (between the two Koreas), as well as a longstanding ideological conflict."
The same article served as the grounds of the Yoon administration's argument that Seoul must push for peaceful reunification. The official of the presidential office described those sympathizing with the concept of peaceful coexistence with North Korea as being "anticonstitutional."
North Korea declared in December 2023 that reunification "can never be achieved" as its leader Kim Jong-un described the two Koreas as "states hostile to each other." In August, South Korea announced its own reunification doctrine to pursue a unified Korean Peninsula that is "denuclearized, free, peaceful and prosperous," primarily by expanding North Korean people's rights.
