Yoon unveils unification doctrine

Aug 16, 2024, 02:33 pm

		0
President Yoon Suk-yeol delivers a speech marking the 79th Liberation Day in Seoul on Aug. 15, 2024./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

“A complete liberation will be realized only when a unified, free and democratic nation rightfully owned by the people is established across the entire Korean Peninsula,” President Yoon Suk-yeol said in a speech marking the 79th Liberation Day on Thursday.

Unveiling the “August 15 Unification Doctrine,” Yoon unveiled three visions and three strategies for a unified, free and democratic nation and seven measures to pursue those visions.

Yoon urged North Korea to establish a working-level dialogue channel as one of the seven measures. The presidential office said that it will await the North’s positive response to proposals by Yoon to promote unification.

The president revealed the doctrine at the National Liberation Day ceremony in Seoul, saying “complete liberation remains an unfinished task as long as the Korean Peninsula remains divided.” The doctrine is a revised inter-Korean unification vision that updates the earlier doctrine announced in 1994 under the Kim Young-sam administration.

In the doctrine, Yoon presented three visions of a “country full of happiness where people’s freedom and safety are guaranteed, a strong and prosperous country soaring through creativity and innovation, and a country that contributes to global peace and prosperity.”

Yoon outlined three main tasks for achieving this vision: addressing social divisions in South Korea, changing North Koreans’ views on unification, and winning global support.

“We must firmly protect freedom, but we must not confuse self-indulgence and irresponsibility with freedom that ignore order and norms,” Yoon said.

The president stressed that the two Koreas can immediately begin political and economic cooperation the moment North Korea takes just one step toward denuclearization.

#Liberation Day #unification doctrine