South Korea-US summit ‘free and peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula’ Yoon Seok-yeol, Kim Tae-hyo ‘free and unified, spreading freedom to North Korea’
In response to President Yoon Seok-yeol’s Liberation Day speech declaring ‘freedom to the North Korean people,’ First Vice Minister of National Security Kim Tae-hyo altered the Camp David Declaration agreed upon by the South Korea-US-Japan leaders to ‘support for free and peaceful unification.’
The Camp David Declaration directly linked by Vice Minister Kim is “support for a free and peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula by the South Korea-US-Japan leaders,” and is completely different and has a large gap as its basic premise is “dialogue with North Korea.”
Vice Minister Kim said on KBS News on the 16th, “The Camp David Declaration supporting the free and peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula and the August 15 Unification Doctrine are intertwined.”
In a joint statement in August 2023, the South Korea-US-Japan leaders declared “strengthening cooperation to promote democracy and protect human rights” and “supporting a free and peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula,” and Vice Minister Kim altered this to “support for the free and peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula.” The Spirit of Camp David: Joint Statement of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States states that “the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea seek to coordinate our common efforts because our trilateral partnership enhances the security and prosperity of all our peoples, the region, and the world,” and that “we will strengthen our cooperation to promote democracy and protect human rights,” and concludes that “a free and open Indo-Pacific where the 500 million people of the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea are safe and prosperous will be our common goal.” The declaration continues by declaring that “the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea continue to maintain our position of resuming dialogue with North Korea without preconditions. We will strengthen cooperation to promote human rights in North Korea, and we reaffirm our common commitment to the immediate resolution of the issues of abductees, detainees, and unreturned prisoners of war.” We express our support for the goal of the bold vision of the Republic of Korea and support a free and peaceful unified Korean Peninsula> and stated it as ‘dialogue with North Korea’ and ‘support for a free and peaceful unified Korean Peninsula.’
The Korea-US-Japan summit agreed among the three leaders at Camp David at the time on ‘complete denuclearization of North Korea’ and ‘dialogue with North Korea,’ and completely different from ‘free unification,’ it was finally stated as ‘support for a free and peaceful unified Korean Peninsula’ in the Indo-Pacific security and prosperity system due to a ‘unified Korean Peninsula.’
President Yoon’s Liberation Day Declaration on the 15th defined ‘the spread of freedom to the North Korean people is liberation’ from ‘leading the free unification of the Korean Peninsula,’ and the ‘strategy of disarming the North Korean regime’ is the core, which conflicts with the ‘free and peaceful unified Korean Peninsula’ signed at Camp David. On this day, President Yoon declared that the contents of the declaration that would increase the conflict with North Korea, such as <We must lead the free unification of the Korean Peninsula>, <So that the North Korean people strongly desire free unification>, and <So that the North Korean people open their eyes to the value of freedom>, while at the same time, he declared <I will keep the door to inter-Korean dialogue wide open> and <Today, I propose the establishment of a working-level ‘dialogue consultative body’ between the authorities of the South and the North>, thereby revealing ‘inter-Korean dialogue’. On the 16th, Vice Minister of National Security Kim stated that the Camp David Declaration in support of free and peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula and the August 15 Unification Doctrine are intertwined, which is interpreted as a packaging to match the formality of Camp David, rather than an actual ‘proposal for inter-Korean dialogue.’
Deputy Minister Kim stated that regarding the scattering of leaflets by private organizations against the North, “Wouldn’t it be good if they communicated well with the government about the effectiveness and frequency?” and “We respect their autonomy, but we believe that there should be no unnecessary tensions in inter-Korean relations,” revealing a ‘de facto permitting policy.’
Minister of Unification Kim Young-ho said about the “August 15 Unification Doctrine,” “I think North Korea will also carefully review our government’s proposal,” and told MBC on the 16th, “The three key strategies are to solidify the value of freedom domestically, promote the North Korean people’s desire for free unification, and secure international support for free unification.”
Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s representative candidate, focused only on ‘pro-Japanese’ statements on the same day, saying, “The Yoon Seok-yeol administration is going against the progress of history,” and “It abuses its ‘veto power’ on the livelihood of our people, but it is leading the way in ‘giving’ Japan’s historical whitewashing,” and did not mention anything about President Yoon’s key statements on North Korea and the United States.