Moon proposes practical peace process for Korean Peninsula during Oslo Forum

Posted on : 2019-06-13 15:57 KST Modified on : 2019-06-13 15:57 KST
S. Korean president emphasizes peace that provides “practical assistance” to people’s lives
South Korean President Moon Jae-in makes a keynote address during the Oslo Forum at Oslo University on June 12.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in makes a keynote address during the Oslo Forum at Oslo University on June 12.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who is currently visiting Norway as a guest of the state, shared his “Oslo vision” on June 12, describing a scenario in which South and North Koreans experience and share peace that can be achieved at the present time rather than after denuclearization or reunification of the Korean Peninsula, with that peace serving as a driving force for denuclearization and overcoming the peninsula’s current division.

Moon’s remarks came during a keynote speech at the Oslo Forum at the University of Oslo that day, which marked the one-year anniversary of the first North Korea-US summit in Singapore.

“When peace provides practical assistance in the public’s lives, the public will actively overcome division and create peace,” he said.

“When more and more people view peace in a positive way as a good thing for making their lives better, there will be healing of the divisions in the public’s hearts, which have been divided by ideology and philosophy,” he added.

Joint organized by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the Oslo Forum is an event that chiefly discusses mediation in international conflicts and the establishment of peace.

In a speech titled, “Peace for the People,” Moon declared, “True peace is helpful to everyone.”

“Peace must be a good thing, something that benefits each and every citizen,” he stressed.

His message signaled his aims of connecting peace on the Korean Peninsula with a concrete reality offering immediate benefits to South and North Koreans. It was also seen as reflecting his commitment to practicing “beneficial peace” as a way of rallying popular support behind the Korean Peninsula peace process, while using it to bring about additional inter-Korean and North Korea-US summits.

Moon went on to say, “What we need right now is not a new vision or declaration, but deeper understanding and trust toward each other to strengthen our commitment to dialogue.”

Moon proposes permanent body to discuss issues in border region

He also proposed practicing peace in ways that are feasible right away.

“It is important to peacefully resolve the structural violence that South and North Koreans are experiencing as a result of division,” he said, adding that “resolving problems in the border region needs to be a priority.” Citing examples of “structural violence,” he noted, “Wildfires, insect damage, and livestock diseases are occurring in the border region, where people are unable to travel, and the rights of fishermen to practice their trade are being threatened on the unseen borders in the sea.”

“Through their Basic Treaty in 1972, East and West Germany set up a border committee to respond swiftly and jointly to issues such as fires, flooding, landslides, contagion, insect damage, and contamination of water resources,” he said in a message calling for South and North Korea to also create a permanent body to discuss issues in the border region.

He also stressed the benefits that “peace for the people” would mean for other countries.

“The establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula would signify the complete dismantling of the last remaining Cold War framework in Northeast Asia, and for the countries of Northeast Asia, which have long experienced conflict due to history and ideology, it would be an opportunity to move toward forward-looking cooperation,” he said.

Noting that “South and North Korea are divided, while North Korea does not have diplomatic relations with either the US or Japan,” he indirectly called for an inter-Korean declaration ending the Korean War and the formation of diplomatic ties between North Korea, the US, and Japan.

Moon also shared favorable predictions for relations between Pyongyang and Washington.

“One year ago, the leaders of North Korea and the US agreed on the broader principles of the Korean Peninsula’s complete denuclearization, a new relationship between North Korea and the US, and a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

“That agreement is now being carried out,” he added.

“While dialogue has appeared to be deadlocked since the second North Korea-US summit, that’s because [the two sides] needed time to understand each other deeply. It’s a process of thawing feelings that have been antagonistic for the past 70 years,” he explained.

“The journey to peace on the Korean Peninsula will not be at all easy, and it will take some time. But just as snowcaps flow into the ocean, so too will peace on the Korean Peninsula reach the sea,” he predicted.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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