Get the latest news and updates from Dawn
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 policy meeting on Wednesday 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 reporters on Thursday, 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.
