Unification minister nominee vows peace-making efforts

Unification minister nominee Kim Yeon-chul speaks during his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly, Tuesday. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han

By Park Ji-won

Unification Minister Nominee Kim Yeon-chul said in a confirmation hearing Tuesday that he will help the United States and North Korea meet and make progress toward denuclearization.

“If I become the unification minister, I won't miss this historic chance to make real progress in resolving the North's nuclear issue and do my best to make laws to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Kim said.

Kim, a professor and head of a think tank in Seoul, has long been a strong backer of dialogue with Pyongyang rather than pressure to improve inter-Korean relations, which is in sync with President Moon's “engagement-centric” approach. Kim has also been vocal on the easing of economic sanctions against the North to get it to denuclearize.

For activities in support of these positions, the opposition parties have claimed that Kim has been acting as a “spokesman” for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“I will come up with creative measures to help the North and U.S. to meet as soon as possible and find a breakthrough,” Kim said.

When asked the meaning of creative measures, he said the ministry can come up with a comprehensive plan to reflect the North's determination to give up its Yongbyon nuclear facilities for the U.S. easing sanctions in relation to setting up a North-U.S. liaison office, declaring an end to the Korean War, and adding a snapback clause.

He also stressed that it was noteworthy that North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui claimed that Trump had been flexible about easing sanctions at the Hanoi summit, if the snapback clause was included in the agreement.

His remarks came after the breakdown of the Hanoi summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump. The South's role as a mediator has been questioned after the summit failure as no tangible progress was made. Cheong Wa Dae recently named seven ministerial nominees for the second half of Moon's five-year term.

Stressing the role of the South in the process, Kim said, “What is important for now is to resume the North Korea-U.S. negotiations at an early date to make sure that the establishment of the denuclearization and peace process on the Korean Peninsula won't lose momentum.”

“Basically, I think they can't have both nuclear weapons and a thriving economy at the same time,” Kim said. “We should utilize Pyongyang's strategy to intensively develop the economy as an element facilitating denuclearization.”

He said dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear facility could be viewed as the North entering an irreversible stage in the denuclearization process.

Kim also vowed to find ways to improve coordination with Washington and the international community in seeking to develop inter-Korean relations.

Seoul has been pushing for restarting inter-Korean projects such as the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and tours to Mount Geumgang asking for an easing sanctions to do this. The industrial complex has been closed in a response to Pyongyang's missile provocations in 2016 while the tour program has been suspended after a South Korean tourist Park Wang-ja was killed by a North Korean soldier in 2008.

Regarding the resumption of operations at the industrial complex, Kim said sanctions should be lifted first to some extent.

Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers went all-out to criticize his past remarks about inter-Korean relations and domestic politics.

Citing Kim's remarks referring to the death of a South Korean tourist Park Wang-ja by a North Korean soldier as a “rite of passage,” opposition lawmakers criticized Kim for making such blunt remarks and asked the presidential office to withdraw his nomination. After listening to Park's son's recorded voice asking for an investigation into the incident involving his mother and measures to prevent such incidents, Kim expressed his condolences to the bereaved family and stressed the importance of preventing such a tragic incident from happening again.

Regarding the sinking of South Korean frigate Cheonan which killed 40 South Korean sailors in 2010, he made it clear that a North Korean torpedo attack was to blame for what happened and apologized for calling it an “accident” in the past. He said he will be more careful with his words and behavior in the future.

Meanwhile, Moon Seong-hyeok, the nominee for oceans minister, admitted and apologized for the false registration of the residences of his family members during his hearing.

Moon's wife and children falsely registered her address once in 1988 and three times in 2006 to have their children assigned to a school of their choice.

Earlier, Cheong Wa Dae announced that a ministerial nominee cannot become a high-ranking government official if the person had falsely registered their family member's address more than twice since July 2005 as a means to speculate on property and getting their children assigned to a preferred school.

Park Yang-woo, the nominee for the culture minister, also came under fire for his close ties with CJ Group amid worries that he would make cultural policies in favor of the conglomerate and thus help it to monopolize the movie industry.

Park pledged to tackle the monopolization issue by reflecting the opinions of small- and medium-sized film producers. He also admitted and apologized for the false residence registration of his family members.

The confirmation hearings are considered a formality because the presidential office can recruit certain ministerial figures regardless of an Assembly endorsement.