Kim Yung-ho, right, new unification minister, poses with President Yoon Suk Yeol at the presidential office in Seoul, Friday, as he officially begins his term. The ministry said that it will launch a new department dedicated to supporting the victims of abduction by North Korea. Yonhap

Under new head, ministry plans to curtail inter-Korean exchanges

By Jung Min-ho

Under a new leader, the Ministry of Unification is poised to get tough on North Korea.

The ministry said on Friday that it will launch a new department dedicated to supporting the victims of abduction by North Korea as part of its reform effort to focus more on the North's poor human rights record in handling inter-Korean relations.

At the same time, the ministry will significantly reduce its exchanges with Pyongyang. Four units responsible for inter-Korean talks, trade and other possible joint projects will be merged under a single body, with some 80 officials expected to be relocated to other divisions or ministries.

The announcement comes a month after President Yoon Suk Yeol called on the ministry not to operate like a "support department for North Korea," saying it is time for change. He also said the ministry should pursue peaceful unification based on the Constitution, which says it must include "the principles of freedom and democracy."

Speaking to reporters, Vice Minister Moon Seung-hyun said the shakeup is necessary as the North continues to refuse dialogue, while bolstering its nuclear weapons.

"Despite much effort put in for talks over the past years since Hanoi (summit between North Korea and the U.S.), there has been zero progress," Moon said. "Some may argue that South Korea is giving it all up. That's not true … If there is demand emerging for inter-Korean talks, we will respond quickly by making structural adjustment for the changing situation."

A unification ministry official walks in the hallway at the Government Complex Seoul, Friday, after the announcement of a major reform plan under a new leader. Yonhap

Resolving the issue of abductions by North Korea is one of the key policy objectives laid out by Kim Yung-ho, who was inaugurated as the new minister the same day.

According to ministry data, as many as 100,000 South Koreans were abducted by the North during the 1950-53 Korean War and an additional 500 are thought to have also been abducted and held by North Korea against their will after the conflict.

Yet, South Korea has so far paid little attention to the issue, let alone make proactive efforts to resolve it. The ministry has handled it as just one of many subjects related to "separated families" on the Korean Peninsula. By contrast, Japan has raised the abduction issue of its 17 abductee citizens at almost every diplomatic opportunity over the past several decades.

Choi Sung-yong, an activist who has long promoted the return of kidnapped South Koreans, welcomed the ministry's decision to create a division dedicated to the issue.

"Representatives of many families of the victims demanded it for decades, only to be turned down or ignored by not just liberal administrations but also conservative ones," he told The Korea Times. "I'm grateful that the Yoon administration is finally responding to our calls."

After the South Korea-U.S. summit in Washington in April, Yoon and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden said in a joint statement that they would work together for the return of South Koreans held in North Korea against their will, including prisoners of war. This is the first time in decades that the leaders of the two countries have vowed in a joint statement to cooperate for that purpose.

One of the fundamental duties of South Korea or any other democratic country is to protect the lives of its citizens, said Oh Gyeong-seob, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a think tank.

"In that sense, though it was late, the government in South Korea made the right decision," he added.

The new minister said in his inauguration speech that inter-Korean unification that meets the demands of South Korea's Constitution will be possible only when North Korea starts correcting its wrongdoings.

"For this to happen, it is important not to be obsessed with the temporary ups and downs of inter-Korean relations and to stick to principles in our policy endeavor from a long-term perspective," he said. "We should not hurry to accept North Korea's unilateral demands only to produce short-term results. In order to meet the expectations from our people and the (high) national status, we should unwaveringly adhere to our principles based on our clear vision for unification."