Unification Ministry launches '4 peace exchange projects' to draw North Korea into multilateral cooperation

The government is moving ahead with preparations for a set of multilateral international cooperation projects — including the Greater Tumen Initiative and a Seoul-Beijing high-speed rail link — designed to draw North Korea into cross-border engagement.

The Ministry of Unification said Wednesday it would prepare and seek public debate on what it calls "four peace exchange projects" as a way to rebuild a peace-and-exchange ecosystem between the two Koreas, in a briefing to the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.

According to the ministry's detailed plan, it has already secured a UN Security Council sanctions exemption for a "healthcare cooperation package" aimed at modernizing hospitals in North Korean provinces. It is also exploring cooperation with overseas Korean diaspora organizations to advance a "Wonsan-Galma peace tourism" initiative.

At the same time, the ministry said it has been explaining to Chinese and Mongolian counterparts its vision for a Seoul-Beijing high-speed rail connection while continuing to work with the Korea Railroad Research Institute. It also plans to propose GTI cooperation projects to create conditions for North Korea to join.

Restoration of a border-area railway is also set to resume. The ministry said it aims to complete preparatory work this year — including a budget increase for total project costs, a re-consultation on the environmental impact assessment, and landmine clearance — before breaking ground next year on the southern section of the Gyeongwon Line between Baengmagoji and Woljeong-ri, with a target completion date of late 2029. Construction on that section began in August 2015 under the Park Geun-hye administration but was halted entirely in May 2016 following North Korea's fourth nuclear test, at which point 37 billion won of the total project budget of 179 billion won ($127 million) had been spent.

The ministry also reported that it would flesh out the Korean Peninsula peace-coexistence "blueprint" announced by President Lee Jae Myung in his Liberation Day address, with the goals of reducing North Korea's distrust, cementing a peace-first policy orientation, and strengthening the "future-oriented" dimension of unification. The underlying concept is to manage the present stably through peaceful coexistence while leaving the ultimate direction of unification for future generations to decide.

However, the ministry added that it would pursue the peace-coexistence policy and the "three-part blueprint" "carefully and in detail, through listening, public deliberation and pan-government cooperation." The approach reflects the call for "prudence" and "caution" that President Lee conveyed to the ministry at an earlier briefing this month.

The ministry also presented several other priority tasks: providing state funding for infrastructure in special peace economic zones, signing a memorandum of understanding with Stanford University's Center for Deliberative Democracy, and supporting legislation for a "North Korea Materials Act" that would transfer management of North Korea-related documents from the National Intelligence Service to the Unification Ministry.

On recent developments in North Korea, the ministry projected that Pyongyang would focus internally on tightening discipline and encouraging production increases to reinforce regime cohesion.

Externally, the ministry assessed that North Korea would deepen its strategic alignment with China and Russia to secure economic and military gains while building up its negotiating leverage ahead of any potential North Korea-US dialogue. It particularly noted that Pyongyang appears to be trying to reframe talks with Washington as "nuclear disarmament negotiations," while maintaining a posture of alert and watchful waiting in its policy toward South Korea.