The faces in the Unification Ministry may change but the goal remains the same, find a way to avoid sanctions to send bulk cash transfers to North Korea:
Unification Minister Lee In-young (L) speaks at Jejin Station in the border town of Goseong on July 31, 2020, in this photo provided by the Goseong county government.
“I’ll actively look for ways to restart the Mount Kumgang tour project,” he said while visiting Jejin Station in Goseong, northeast of Seoul, near the Demilitarized Zone that separates two Koreas. “The resumption of the tour program will send a message of peace on the Korean Peninsula and revive the economy of border regions.”
The minister also said he will go ahead with plans to reconnect the rail network to North Korea in a bid to create a new economic order on the Korean Peninsula.
During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Lee said he would look for a “creative solution” to restart the tour program to North Korea’s scenic mountains in the form of individual tours as a way to improve inter-Korean relations without violating international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang.
Started in 2003, the project was suspended after a South Korean tourist was shot dead near the mountain resort in 2008. The program’s formal resumption requires a sanctions waiver, as it involves bulk cash transfer to the North.
South Korea’s Unification Minister nominee has essentially said that he plans to find ways to work around sanctions to pay off North Korea:
Unification Minister nominee Lee In-young speaks to reporters after arriving at the Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue in Seoul, Monday, to prepare for his parliamentary confirmation hearing. / Yonhap
The government has hinted that it will seek to revamp the beleaguered South Korea-U.S. working group, a forum to coordinate North Korea-related issues, as part of its plan to push for more inter-Korean cooperation.
The organization, set up in November 2018, has taken flak for allegedly hindering progress in inter-Korean ties due to its excessively harsh standards adopted on Pyongyang, and there have been growing calls here for restructuring its operation or even dismantling it.
Lee In-young, the unification minister nominee, said Monday that he plans to distinguish what the government can do on its own with the North from what it can do under the format of the working group.
“If I take office, I will review what the working group has done so far and take additional measures (to promote inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation), based on my ideas regarding inter-Korean affairs,” Lee told reporters upon arriving at the Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue to prepare for his National Assembly confirmation hearing.
You can read more at the link, but as I have been saying this is why the Kim regime blew up the Inter-Korean Liaison Office; to force North Korea to separate from the U.S.’s North Korea policy and violate sanctions. If South Korea finds ways to violate sanctions that will be a green light to other nations to do so as well.
