Unification minister says Lee government has abandoned 'denuclearization first' policy in favor of peace-led approach

Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young said Thursday that the Lee Jae Myung government has in effect abandoned the previous administration's "denuclearization first" policy — including the CVID (complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization) framework — and shifted to a "peace first" approach over the past year.

Speaking to reporters at the Unification Ministry press room ahead of his first anniversary in office on Saturday, Jeong said the ministry is working to flesh out a "peace-led strategy to prioritize halting North Korea's nuclear buildup." He said the urgency stems from the fact that "North Korea's efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal are continuing even as we speak," adding that the ministry and the government share a concern that "we cannot afford to keep putting this off."

Jeong said both the United States and China have in effect abandoned the denuclearization-first approach, and that even Victor Cha, widely regarded as a North Korea hawk, has declared it a failure. He said the previous government's insistence on denuclearization first "was largely driven by domestic political considerations." He added that "restoring severed dialogue with North Korea must come first," and that the shift away from denuclearization first toward a peace-first approach reflects the recognition that "placing denuclearization as a precondition at the door makes dialogue impossible."

In materials distributed to the press that day, Jeong said the ministry is exploring a practical approach under which North Korea would receive corresponding incentives in exchange for first halting its nuclear buildup, even before full denuclearization. As part of this, he proposed initiating talks on a Korean Peninsula peace regime as a way to create the conditions for a nuclear freeze.

President Lee Jae Myung had previously proposed a three-stage approach to the North Korean nuclear issue in his keynote address to the 80th UN General Assembly last September, calling on the international community to "pool its wisdom around a practical, phased solution — starting with a 'halt' to the advancement of nuclear and missile capabilities, moving through a process of 'reduction,' and ultimately reaching 'elimination.'"

At a press briefing in June, Lee elaborated on phased denuclearization, saying that "in the short term, simply halting — stopping the production of additional fissile material, not transferring nuclear material abroad, and ceasing further development of ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) technology — would already benefit the international community."

On the prospects for resuming North Korea-US dialogue, Jeong said the key windows would be Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States and summit with President Donald Trump in September, followed by Trump's visit to China and their summit in November. "For something to happen at those moments, we cannot afford to sit still in August and September," he said.

He said he understands that Michelle Steel, the incoming US ambassador to South Korea, is set to arrive later this month, and that he expects an opportunity to meet with her.

Jeong cited as a major achievement of the past year the articulation of "a peaceful two-state relationship oriented toward unification" as the implementation strategy for the Lee government's inter-Korean policy of "peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula." He said this framework has been established as a new paradigm for inter-Korean relations that overcomes North Korea's stance of treating the South as a "hostile foreign state."

He said President Lee, at a National Unification Advisory Council event held earlier this month, went a step further than respecting North Korea's system by explicitly pledging to respect its "sovereignty" as well. "This is in line with the concept of a peaceful two-state relationship oriented toward unification," Jeong said.

On North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui's visit to Russia, Jeong said "it is reasonable to infer that the visit is in preparation for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's trip to Moscow." While Kim has held talks with Vladimir Putin in Russia's Far East, he has never visited Moscow.

Jeong said Putin "appears interested in improving South Korea-Russia relations, and we are also interested in improving ties." He added that "from that perspective, it is necessary to participate — at whatever level — in the Eastern Economic Forum," scheduled to be held in Vladivostok, Russia, in September.

With the prolonged freeze in inter-Korean relations, Jeong said the ministry intends to actively support private-sector efforts, citing as an example a civil society group in North Chungcheong Province working with the provincial government to pursue agricultural assistance to North Korea, including seeds and pesticides.

On policy toward North Korean defectors, Jeong said the ministry has worked to shift its approach from treating them as subjects of "protection and management" to empowering them as "agents of growth and self-reliance." He urged the media to adopt the new term "bukhyangmin" — a designation introduced as part of that shift.

Jeong also disclosed that the ministry recently removed all barbed wire from the perimeter fence of Hanawon, the state resettlement center for North Korean defectors, which is classified as a national security facility. Starting next month, all Hanawon graduates entering local communities will receive the latest smartphones — funded by a donation from philanthropist Yang Han-jong and informally known as the "Yang Han-jong phone."

Earlier that day, Jeong attended a roundtable with North Korean studies scholars at the Inter-Korean Talks Building, where he expressed his commitment to revitalizing the field's research ecosystem. He said the ministry plans to amend the enforcement decree of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund Act to support the creation of a peace economy special zone and restore the North Korean studies research ecosystem, and that it intends to expand the number of unification-focused universities and significantly broaden scholarship support for master's and doctoral researchers.