South Korea to support civilian aid to North Korea in hopes of talks

South Koreas government said Friday it will promote civilian efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea in hopes of softening a diplomatic freeze deepened by North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns growing nuclear ambitionsSouth Korean Unification Minister Kwon Youngse didnt specify the type of aid he sees as conceivable or whether it was realistic to expect those exchanges to induce meaningful diplomatic breakthroughsNorth Korea has suspended virtually all cooperation with rival South Korea since the collapse of its nuclear negotiations with the United States in 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of USled sanctions and steps to cut back its nuclear weapons and missiles programmeKim further ramped up tensions in 2022 testfiring more than 70 missiles including potentially nuclearcapable weapons of various ranges targeting South Korea and the continental United States Kim punctuated his testing activity with provocative statements that North Korea would preemptively use its nukes in crisis situations against South Korea or the US as the allies revived their largescale military exercises which had been downsized in recent years to counter the Norths growing threatWhile ignoring South Korean calls for talks the North has ridiculed President Yoon Suk Yeols offer for economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization steps accusing Seoul of recycling foolish proposals Pyongyang already rejectedKwons news conference Friday was to address reporters on the ministrys policy plans for 2023 But the dearth of new ideas for reviving dialogue underscored how rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula have sidelined a ministry dedicated to improving relations with the North and promoting an eventual peaceful unificationAlso read lsquoUS S Korea may hold nuke drill amid N Korea threatrsquoAlthough South Koreas current priority is to maintain a strengthened defence posture against the North in conjunction with its alliance with the United States its also critical to make consistent efforts to revive an atmosphere for dialogue Kwon said To reopen a path for dialogue amid tightly strained SouthNorth relations and to build trust between the South and North even if its little by little we will support the efforts of civilian organisations to resume contact with North Korea and also try to broaden contact through international organisations said KwonKwon said that South Korea has not made any new offers for interKorean government talks after North Korea ignored repeated calls for meetings in 2022 The South had proposed talks in May to set up Southern provisions of vaccines and other COVID19 supplies after the North acknowledged an outbreakThe North was unresponsive again in September when the South called for a meeting to arrange reunions of families separated since the 195053 Korean War ahead of that months Chuseok holidays the Korean ThanksgivingThe reunions of those families as well as the issue of bringing back South Korean civilians who remain detained by the North would be prioritised if talks between the Koreas do resume Kwon saidKwon said the ministry also plans to update South Koreas longterm vision for an eventual unification with North Korea to reflect recent changes in global geopolitics and help maintain the South Korean publics support for a future combined statehood which weakened in recent years amid the Norths nuclear pushThe New Future Initiative on Unification will be released by the end of the year after an opiniongathering process the ministry said in a statementThe ministry said it will also publicise annual reports on North Koreas human rights record starting in March to raise awareness on the issue During an interview with The Associated Press this month Yoon reiterated his plans to provide economic assistance to North Korea if it shows sincere commitment toward abandoning its nuclear weapons programYoon said he isnt demanding North Korea to completely denuclearize upfront but appeared to set a high bar for talks citing inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency as an example of the steps the North should take in order to receive economic benefitsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever