Kim Yong-hyun: "Fundamental Resolution of North Korea's Nuclear, Missile, and Human Rights Issues Depends on Free Unification"

Seoul Security Dialogue Speech... "Advancing Security Cooperation with NATO"

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said on the 11th, "The fundamental solution to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and North Korean human rights issues lies in achieving a 'free and unified Korean Peninsula'."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Minister Kim made this statement during a speech at the 13th Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) hosted by the Ministry of National Defense at Lotte Hotel Seoul, saying, "We will further strengthen our sense of purpose for freedom and spread the value of freedom to the North so that North Korean residents will desire reunification under freedom, creating change." He added, "We will promote free reunification in solidarity with the international community."

Minister Kim said, "The power of deterrence comes from the power of broader solidarity and cooperation," and added, "The Korea-UN Command Chiefs of Staff meeting held yesterday is a representative example of joint efforts among value-sharing countries for stability on the Korean Peninsula. We will also develop security cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to work for stability in both the Atlantic and the Korean Peninsula."

He emphasized, "President Syngman Rhee, the first president of the Republic of Korea, called South Korea the 'bastion of the free world,'" and said, "Even now, South Korea is a bastion on the front line of freedom, protecting freedom and the rules-based order from forces attempting to change the status quo by force."

Minister Kim criticized provocations such as North Korea's ballistic missile launches, cyberattacks, GPS jamming, and the release of trash balloons, and condemned the military cooperation between North Korea and Russia as the foundation for North Korea's illegal military development.