S. Korean President Calls for Unification with North, Offers New Dialogue Channel

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol unveiled a vision for unification with North Korea on Thursday, and proposed an official dialogue channel between the two Koreas to discuss ways to ease tension, resume economic cooperation and increase exchanges. Yoon made the remark in an address marking Liberation Day, which celebrates the 1945 end of Japan's colonial rule, saying, "Complete liberation remains an unfinished task" as the Korean Peninsula still remains divided. "The freedom we enjoy must be extended to the frozen kingdom of the North, where people are deprived of freedom and suffer from poverty and starvation," Yoon said. "Only when a unified free and democratic nation rightfully owned by the people is established across the entire Korean Peninsula will we finally have complete liberation." Yoon laid out three key tasks for unification: defending freedom in South Korea from fake news and other destabilizing elements, bringing about changes in North Korea through human rights improvements and outside in formation, and strengthening cooperation with the international community. He also proposed "a working group" between the two Koreas to discuss ways to ease tension, resume economic cooperation and increase exchanges. "This body could take up any issue, ranging from relieving tensions to economic cooperation, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and disaster and climate-change responses. We will also be able to discuss pending humanitarian issues, such as separated families and South Korean prisoners of war, abductees and detainees still kept in the North," he said. He reiterated his commitment to the "audacious initiative" unveiled two years ago, which calls for offering massive assistance to help the impoverished North rebuild its economy in return for denuclearization steps. "We will begin political and economic cooperation the moment North Korea takes just one step toward denuclearization," he said. Yoon's dialogue proposal comes amid heightened tensions following North Korea's sending of trash-c arrying balloons across the border in a tit-for-tat move against South Korean civic groups' sending balloons carrying propaganda leaflets criticizing North Korean leader. Source : Qatar News Agency