Unification Minister nominee Lee In-young speaks to reporters after arriving at the Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue in Seoul, Monday, to prepare for his parliamentary confirmation hearing. / Yonhap

Gov't vows to seek inter-Korean projects separately from working group

By Kang Seung-woo

The government has hinted that it will seek to revamp the beleaguered South Korea-U.S. working group, a forum to coordinate North Korea-related issues, as part of its plan to push for more inter-Korean cooperation.

The organization, set up in November 2018, has taken flak for allegedly hindering progress in inter-Korean ties due to its excessively harsh standards adopted on Pyongyang, and there have been growing calls here for restructuring its operation or even dismantling it.

Lee In-young, the unification minister nominee, said Monday that he plans to distinguish what the government can do on its own with the North from what it can do under the format of the working group.

"If I take office, I will review what the working group has done so far and take additional measures (to promote inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation), based on my ideas regarding inter-Korean affairs," Lee told reporters upon arriving at the Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue to prepare for his National Assembly confirmation hearing.

"We need a creative solution to the stalemated inter-Korean ties. Sanctions should not be pursued for the sake of sanctions but for realizing their ultimate goal of building peace on the Korean Peninsula," the four-term lawmaker added.

These remarks are seen as a pledge for a more aggressive and independent push for inter-Korean projects that are not subject to international sanctions such as South Koreans' individual tours to North Korean towns, which President Moon Jae-in has called for since the beginning of the year.

His remarks come as the Kim Jong-un regime has harshly criticized the working group, citing it as a key example of "deep-rooted flunkeyism."

"Even before the ink on the North-South agreement (in April 2018) was dry, President Moon Jae-in accepted the South Korea-U.S. working group under the coercion of his master and presented all issues related to the North-South ties to the White House. This has all boomeranged," Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader's sister, said last month.

Lee is not the only senior government official to mention the government's intent to improve the working group's dialogue operations.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said in a press conference, July 2, that Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, had discussed this matter after the North demolished the inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Gaeseong.

"The foreign ministry assesses ― and so does the United States ― that the working group has operated fairly effectively, but we are also aware of domestic concerns about it," Kang said.

"I was briefed that at the time of the special representative's visit to the U.S., we shared the perception of such a problem with the U.S. side and discussed how to improve the way it operates so as to dispel such concerns."

The North, which has halted criticism of Seoul since Kim Jong-un suspended much-heralded military action, June 23, complained about the working group again, Monday.

Citing former South Korean unification ministers, DPRK Today, a North Korean propaganda website, said, "The South Korea-U.S. working group has been a hindrance to cross-border exchanges and cooperation."

Amid growing speculation that the South would push its engagement policy toward the North harder by passing over the U.S., Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University, remained cautious about giving any broad meaning to Lee's remarks.

"Taking a closer look at the working group, there are few things that South Korea can do independently," he said.

"In that respect, Lee's words can be interpreted as his plan to find more things that the two Koreas can do, and aggressively persuade the U.S. to cooperate on such inter-Korean projects."