[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] Former Minister of Unification Lee Jong-seok stated on the 31st that the signs of North Korea restarting the Yongbyon plutonium reactor were "expected from an expert's perspective."
Former Minister Lee attended as a panelist at the '2021 Korea Peninsula International Peace Forum' held at the Federation of Korean Industries building in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, hosted by the Ministry of Unification. He said, "If the U.S. shows a tendency to revert to strategic patience, from North Korea's perspective, since the goal of sanctions relief has not been realized at all, they will carry out provocations within an unpromised scope to the U.S.," expressing this view.
He evaluated, "Showing signs of operating nuclear facilities without launching or testing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) indicates a relatively low-level stance."
He emphasized that the most important fundamental method for a phase shift is "resolving distrust between North Korea and the U.S."
Moon Jung-in, Chairman of the Sejong Institute, also stressed mutual trust, saying, "Unless the U.S. changes its paradigm of demonizing and distrusting North Korea, North Korea cannot help but respond in kind."
Chairman Moon pointed out, "It seems the U.S. is not ready to accept or learn lessons," adding, "Looking at Afghanistan, the U.S. military was stationed in Kabul for 20 years, yet every year they kept making new plans."
He added, "The North Korea issue should be addressed by considering the entire security environment of Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula, but problems have arisen because there is no big picture or grand strategy, and conflicts continue."
Former Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Ning Fukui also evaluated, "Looking at the U.S.'s new North Korea policy, there are positive aspects, but it lacks novelty and substantive change," and "It does not seem to reflect well the lessons from the Hanoi failure."
Meanwhile, Jeong Se-hyun, Senior Vice Chairman of the Democratic Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, who delivered the keynote speech, proposed that at this stage, the focus should be on a 'South-North Confederation' similar to the European Union rather than unification.
Senior Vice Chairman Jeong stated, "Considering that North Korea has abandoned unification and aims for coexistence, we need to think about whether it is right to continue managing North Korea with unification slogans," and added, "It is appropriate to aim for a relationship like the European Union."
He pointed out, "It is hollow to talk about unification when we have not even achieved the intermediate stage of a South-North Confederation."
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