hankyoreh

Former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won speaks during a talk on inter-Korean peace at the Sejong Center in Seoul on June 11. (Yonhap News)

“The four main factors in the Korean Peninsula’s Cold War regime are all closely interconnected and interdependent, such that it is impossible to separate out and resolve just one of them. A comprehensive, step-by-step approach is essential.”

These remarks were made by former Minister of Unification Lim Dong-won, 86, at a “dialogue of major June 15 figures and young people in their 20s and 30s” organized at the Sejong Center in Seoul by the National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC) on June 11 to mark the 20th anniversary of the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration of 2000.

Lim identified the four elements of the Korean Peninsula’s Cold War structure as the distrustful and antagonist relations between South and North Korea, the hostile relationship between the US and North Korea, the race to build up weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and other arms, and the military armistice system. According to his analysis, an “agreement to dismantle to four elements of the Cold War structure was reached” through agreements in 2018 between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (the Panmunjom Declaration on Apr. 27, the Pyongyang Joint Declaration on Sept. 19, and a military agreement on Sept. 19) and through the Singapore Joint Statement on June 12, 2018, by Kim and US President Donald Trump. His conclusion was that a path toward eliminating the elements sustaining the Cold War system was cleared with the agreements to improve inter-Korean relations, establish a new relationship between Washington and Pyongyang, and completely denuclearize and establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

Current situation result of 4 intertwined and unresolved elements

“The situation with inter-Korean relations and the Korean Peninsula today has come about because the four elements are all intertwined and haven’t been resolved,” Lim said, attributing the lack of progress to failure to implement the agreements already reached by the leaders of South and North Korea and the US.

“None of the elements can be separated out and resolved on its own,” he stressed.

He went on to say that Seoul “needs to help usher improvements to US-North Korea relations and achieve denuclearization by promoting inter-Korean relations.”

“South and North need to cooperate as parties to peace on the Korean Peninsula on spearheading the holding of four-party peace talks and transitioning from a military armistice system to a peace regime,” he urged, articulating a vision of achieving a breakthrough and progress through inter-Korean cooperation and leadership.

“Inter-Korean relations are subject to the influences of US-North Korea relations and inevitably going through a repeated process of progress and retreat, frustration and achievement,” he said.

“Rather than allowing ourselves to become too excited or disappointed over every development, we need to remain patient, consistent, and flexible as we create opportunities,” he continued.

Lim is the only surviving member of the four leading figures behind the first inter-Korean summit since the national division. The others -- former President Kim Dae-jung, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and Asia-Pacific Peace Committee Chairman and Workers’ Party of Korea Secretary for South Korean Affairs Kim Yong-sun -- have all passed away.

Lim is also the only person in South Korea to have met and spoken with all three leaders in North Korea’s history (Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong-un). He and Kim Dae-jung have been described as the “architects” of the policy of reconciliation and cooperation with North Korea, and he has also served as a mentor to Moon Jae-in, heading an inter-Korean summit advisory group in 2018.

In his special talk that day, Lim identified four senses in which the June 15 Joint Declaration was significant: stating a path for peace and reunification, ushering in a new era of reconciliation and exchange, creating momentum to initiate the peace process on the peninsula, and establishing a principle of national self-sufficiency where Korea was the leading actor in its own destiny. In particular, he praised the South and North Korean leaders for putting an end to a longstanding unification-related debate by reaching a “shared understanding” in support of “peaceful unification without arms or ‘absorption’” and “unification as [both destination and] process.”

Recalling that the first inter-Korean summit was the result of a combination of three factors -- the Sunshine Policy, the peace process and dismantling of the Cold War system on the Korean Peninsula, and the establishment of trust through the Mt. Kumgang tourism effort -- Lim stressed that “we should not forget that it was not achieved through closed-door meetings by a handful of people.”

He referred to the five agreements between South and North Korean leaders (the June 15, Oct. 4, Apr. 27, and Sept. 19 declaration and Sept. 19 military agreement) as having brought us to today through the sharing of a spirit of reconciliation and cooperation and through continuation and development as an extension of that.” In particular, he said that the June 15 Declaration “serves as a guide.”

“Peace may not be everything, but nothing can be achieved without peace,” he stressed.

“We need to remain patient and steadily build peace as we dedicate ourselves to the path of reunification,” he urged.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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