Unification minister calls on North Korea to meet, resume communication

Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young on Friday called on North Korea to open dialogue, saying the two sides must meet and communicate.

Speaking to reporters on his way into the Government Complex Seoul, Jeong said the root cause of the recent incident was ultimately a question of the truce line and the MDL. He urged the North to "start communication to reconfirm and reestablish the line of the MDL."

Jeong said that of the 1,292 boundary markers driven into the ground along the 248-kilometer truce line 73 years ago, nearly all have disappeared over time, with only about 180 remaining. He added that South Korea, North Korea and the UN Command each follow their own reference lines when determining where the MDL runs.

"If this problem is not resolved, the same incident could recur at any time," he said, and went on to say that a confrontation of force against force would not solve the issue.

"We have not the slightest intention of treating the North as an enemy," Jeong said, adding that the two Koreas must meet again to seek a path toward peaceful coexistence.

He extended his "deepest condolences once again" to the soldiers injured in the incident and their families. He cautioned, however, that the incident must not be used as a pretext to undermine or distort the Lee Jae Myung government's consistent efforts toward peace.

Asked whether the government's peaceful coexistence policy might lose momentum as a result of the incident, Jeong said the episode made such a policy all the more urgent.

He criticized calls from some quarters to resume loudspeaker broadcasts directed at the North as "irresponsible and reckless." On the military's demand for an apology from the North, he said the government would take appropriate action once the final investigation results were released, adding that the demand for an apology was "entirely justified."