Unification minister: 'We should be peacemakers, not just pacemakers, once NK-US summit happens'

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Thursday, regarding inter-Korean relations, "We are a pacemaker until a North Korea-US summit takes place, but after that, we need to shift our stance."

Chung made the remark during a National Assembly question-and-answer session that day, after Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sun-won asked whether South Korea was properly playing the role of pacemaker. "The pacemaker role does not suit us," Chung said. "We must become peacemakers."

"As a party to the Korean Peninsula issue, we need to serve as a pacemaker until a North Korea-US summit is held, but after that, we must change our position," Chung said, adding, "The Lee Jae Myung government has been given a historic mission."

He then said, "Over the past 100 years of the Korean Peninsula's history, being reduced to a colony, divided, dragged into war and trapped in the chains of military dictatorship all happened when we were alienated from our own destiny. Taking this as a lesson, the government needs to deeply consider strategies for building a peace regime."

Asked by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Byung-joo what efforts were underway to open communication channels between the two Koreas, Chung said, "Regarding the restoration of the land, maritime and aerial buffer zones created under the Sept. 19 military agreement to prevent accidental clashes between the two Koreas -- which I mentioned in last year's Aug. 15 Liberation Day address -- discussions have continued on measures that could be implemented first, such as preemptively designating no-fly zones, but this is still under review."

When Kim asked him how he would feel about being sent to North Korea as a special envoy, Chung responded skeptically, "Now is not the time to send or receive envoys. How could that work when we cannot even communicate?"