Lee In-young "If a COVID-19 vaccine is developed, North and South will share and cooperate"

Minister of Unification: "Towards a Life and Safety Community on the Korean Peninsula"
Pursuing Comprehensive Sanctions Exemptions for Cooperation with North Korea

On the morning of the 20th, Lee In-young, Minister of Unification, delivered opening remarks at the Inter-Korean Health and Medical Cooperation Council meeting held at the National Cancer Center Peace Medical Center in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. At the meeting, they discussed inter-Korean medical cooperation measures to realize a life and safety community on the Korean Peninsula, focusing on joint cooperation against COVID-19.

Lee In-young, Minister of Unification, said on the 20th, "In the near future, when treatments and vaccines for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) are developed and distributed, new conditions will be created on the Korean Peninsula where people and goods can move through sharing and cooperation."

Minister Lee made these remarks during his opening speech at the inter-Korean health and medical cooperation consultative meeting held at the National Cancer Center Peace Medical Center on the same day. He stated, "It is urgent to overcome COVID-19 and lay the foundation for a life safety community on the Korean Peninsula."

He warned, "The whole world is experiencing unprecedented crises and anxieties due to the spread of COVID-19, and the Korean Peninsula is no exception." He continued, "There is no more important cooperative task than the North and South putting their heads together for the health and survival of our people," adding, "I hope that the North and South will meet on the path of protecting life safety, find the way to peace and prosperity, and walk together toward unification."

Minister Lee emphasized, "I believe that the establishment of an infectious disease information exchange and response system agreed upon by the inter-Korean leaders in 2018 should be discussed now," and added, "Furthermore, it should be developed into a mutually beneficial cooperation encompassing diagnosis, treatment, prevention, research, vaccine development, and production."

He added, "If an inter-Korean infectious disease response center is established anywhere in the border area between the North and South, it is a proposal that the Korean Peninsula can be reborn as a safe and reliable living ground in the new normal era where health crises have become commonplace, and I intend to focus on this and find ways to realize it."

Minister Lee stressed the establishment of a sustainable cooperative system, saying, "Cooperation in health care, disaster and accident response, and climate environment should move away from one-time projects and be continuously promoted based on annual plans."

He also said, "The government will create a health and environment cooperation package to establish a predictable and stable inter-Korean cooperation system," and added, "We will also work to comprehensively and efficiently resolve exemptions from sanctions against the North."

Meanwhile, Minister Lee recently sparked controversy by expressing in a media interview the idea that COVID-19 vaccines should be shared with North Korea. He proposed sharing COVID-19 vaccines between the North and South, saying, "I think that sharing when we are somewhat lacking, rather than sharing because we have a lot, is the real sharing." This statement came amid a global shortage of vaccine supply and even before securing domestic quantities.

Regarding the related controversy, Cho Hye-sil, Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of Unification, explained on the 20th, "It emphasized the will and necessity for joint COVID-19 cooperation between the North and South amid the global COVID-19 crisis." She added, "We see cooperation as important from various perspectives, including protecting the life safety of all residents in the North and South, safe inter-Korean cooperation, and contributing to the international community through Northeast Asia quarantine and health cooperation," and requested, "Please understand it in this context."