Unification ministry proposes not calling N. Korea 'main enemy'

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young waits to present an award during the second conference on peace and safety in border areas, held at the government complex in Seoul on July 27. Yonhap

The unification ministry on Wednesday raised the need to stop calling North Korea its "main enemy" as part of steps to seek peaceful coexistence with Pyongyang in an effort to revive long-frozen inter-Korean relations.

The ministry briefed President Lee Jae Myung on its major policy plan that centers on building mutual respect and reciprocal cooperation, peaceful conflict resolution and crisis management and a long-term push toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and peace in Northeast Asia.

As part of that effort, the ministry proposed to stop calling North Korea the "main enemy" when referring to the North and using the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, to build mutual trust.

South Korea currently uses "North Korea" rather than its official name, as Seoul does not recognize the two Koreas as separate states under the 1991 inter-Korean Basic Agreement.

The initiative effectively revives a peace regime framework floated under former President Moon Jae-in that lost momentum after inter-Korean exchanges came to a standstill.

On security, the ministry wants to revive the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military tension reduction pact, signed by former President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2018, and use the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas in a peaceful manner.

A white paper the ministry published in May laid out three key guiding principles behind the initiative: respecting the North's system, ruling out unification by absorption and avoiding hostile acts.

As measures to lay the groundwork for inter-Korean exchange, the ministry mapped out a plan to restart construction next year on the South Korean section of the Gyeongwon Line, connecting Seoul and Wonsan in the North, with a 2029 completion target. The construction has been suspended for the past decade as ties have deteriorated.

The ministry also plans to revise rules governing the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, whose usage has languished at 2-3 percent. The revision would allow spending on peace economic zones, private unification projects and North Korea studies.