South Korea dismisses former president's request to re-evaluate unification policy

The presidential office has rejected former President Moon Jae-in's request to reassess its North Korea unification approach, branding the previous administration's dialogue-centric peace initiative as "unrealistic."

A senior official, who accompanied President Yoon Suk Yeol during a trip to the Czech Republic, made these comments following Moon's criticism of the current government's hardline stance on North Korea and his calls for measures to alleviate inter-Korean tensions, Caliber.Az reports via South Korean media.

The official asserted that the Moon administration had failed to effectively implement strategies to secure peace on the Korean Peninsula, focusing instead on dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and advocating for a formal declaration ending the 1950-53 Korean War, which concluded with a truce.

“Didn’t they lobby the United States and the international community that ‘the war is over, and peace has arrived?’ The issue lies in how to establish peace,” the official remarked.

Criticism was directed at the previous government for lacking adequate efforts to build robust deterrence against North Korean threats, with claims that it mishandled the deployment of the US THAAD missile defence system and neglected to coordinate extended deterrence with the US.

The THAAD system was installed in Seongju, approximately 215 kilometres southeast of Seoul, in 2017 but remained classified as a "temporary" installation for years due to environmental impact assessment requirements.

“Pursuing peace solely through dialogue with North Korea is unrealistic,” the official added.

Last month, President Yoon unveiled a unification doctrine advocating for peaceful reunification based on liberal democracy and proposed establishing a working-level dialogue channel between the two Koreas. North Korea, however, has yet to respond to this offer and has continued to send balloon-borne refuse across the border in recent months.