Supporting North Korea is not Unification Ministry's job, says Yoon

Kim Yung-ho, nominee for next unification minister, speaks to reporters in front of the Office of the Inter-Korean Dialogue in Seoul, Friday. Korea Times photo by Choi Joo-yeon

By Nam Hyun-woo

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Sunday that the Ministry of Unification should not act like a ministry that supports North Korea and called for an overhaul of the government agency, just days after the opposition party criticized the recent nomination of a new unification minister.

“So far, the unification ministry has acted like a pro-North Korea support ministry, but that should be stopped,” Yoon was quoted as saying by senior presidential secretary for public relations Kim Eun-hye. “Now is the time for the unification ministry to change.”

The senior secretary said Yoon was referring to last week's nomination of Kim Yung-ho, a professor of political diplomacy at Sungshin Women's University and a former human rights ambassador, as the new unification minister. Kim has been calling for stronger pressure on North Korea by taking issue with its dismal human rights track record.

The nomination was interpreted as Yoon's bid to ensure a major shift from the previous administration's peace-oriented North Korea policies by employing a human rights-centered upfront policy toward the North in close cooperation with other countries to create joint pressure.

“The ministry should serve its due roles based on the Constitutional spirit of unification through basic orders of free democracy,” Yoon said. “The unification we pursue should enable both South and North Koreans to live better and more humane lives.”

Yoon's comments on Sunday came as a response to heated criticism from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which described the nomination as “a far-right choice.”

“Yoon has named a person obsessed with hostile philosophy toward North Korea as a nominee for the unification minister,” DPK secretary general Cho Jeong-sik said Sunday.

The DPK has been criticizing the new nominee citing his op-ed pieces to conservative media, in which he called for overthrowing the Kim Jong-un regime.

“The nominee does not befit the unification minister post, who has to lay the groundwork for unification through dialogue and exchanges,” DPK spokesperson Rep. Park Sung-joon said in a June 29 press conference.

Speaking to reporters at the Office of the Inter-Korean Dialogue in Seoul, Friday, nominee Kim said the rights violations of ordinary North Koreans are “very serious” and South Korea has so far shown a lack of willingness to resolve the issue.

“Freedom, human rights and the rule of law are among the uncompromising things,” he said. “From a scholar's perspective, the international community has paid extensive attention to addressing the issue, while South Korea has relatively been less so … As stakeholders in the unification matter, we should pay more attention to the suffering of North Koreans.”