Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaks to lawmakers at a parliamentary foreign affairs committee meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Nov. 15. Yonhap
South Korea's point man on North Korea met with Gen. Paul LaCamera, chief of the United Nations Command (UNC), on Monday to discuss how to bolster cooperation, the unification ministry said Monday.
The trip to the UNC headquarters by Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho came as Seoul seeks to deepen ties with the U.S.-led multinational command, an enforcer of the Armistice Agreement that halted the 1950-53 Korean War.
The trip, the first by a unification minister, is in line with the policy of the government of Yoon Suk Yeol that puts importance on the UNC, ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam said in a regular press briefing.
"The meeting will serve as an opportunity to reaffirm the UNC's importance and value regarding the security situation of South Korea and bolster cooperative ties," Koo said of Kim's visit to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul.
Yoon praised the UNC's contribution to overseeing the armistice, and promoting peace and stability on the peninsula during a recent meeting in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.
During the previous liberal government, Seoul's relationship with the multinational command had faced frictions over access to the Demilitarized Zone for nonmilitary purposes, such as a joint field survey of a cross-border railway by the two Koreas in 2018.
The UNC has jurisdiction over the area that separates the two Koreas.
As part of efforts to strengthen ties with the UNC, the unification ministry plans to host a policy briefing Tuesday for ambassadors of countries that either sent troops or medical personnel to South Korea during the Korean War.
The current UNC member states are the United States, Britain, Canada, Turkey, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, the Netherlands, Colombia, Greece, New Zealand, Belgium, France, South Africa, Norway, Denmark and Italy. (Yonhap)
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