Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
S. Korea's 5-year plan for NK focuses on denuclearization, peace
By Kim Bo-eun
South Korea's policies toward the North for the next five years have been drawn up based on agreements reached at the first and third summits between leaders of South and North Korea, according to the unification ministry.
The ministry on Monday unveiled the plans for 2018 and an outline of the policies to be carried out from 2018 to 2022, after reporting them to the National Assembly.
This is the third five-year plan to be drawn up, since the ones created during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations in 2007 and 2013.
The outline states the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of lasting peace as part of the five-year plan, as agreed by the leaders at their earlier summits.
The other two goals, along with denuclearization, are sustainable development of inter-Korean relations and building transport infrastructure to link the Koreas and Eurasia.
Compared to the five-year plan of the Park administration, the policies are less about “unification” and more about resolving the denuclearization issue and improving inter-Korean relations.
They develop the task of denuclearization into improving ties between North Korea and the U.S. and establishing a lasting peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
Also the third five-year plan instead aims to regularize inter-Korean dialogue, as the South and North already have had multiple summits and high-level and working-level meetings this year.
However, the plan was criticized for being drawn up just as the year is coming to an end.
The plans for 2018 appear to be impossible to be achieved within the year, including declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War and repairing meeting facilities at Mount Geumgang to enable separated family members to meet regularly.
Regarding the matter, a unification ministry official said it took time to finalize the plan, as circumstances surrounding the Korean Peninsula have continued to change throughout the year and the plan had to include agreements reached at the third inter-Korean summit in September.
Regulations on developing inter-Korean relations state the government needs to set up a plan for policies toward North Korea every five years.