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| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, waves as he departs Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, a Vietnamese border town, in this March 2, 2019, file photo. The Ministry of Unification said Friday that it will begin various projects this year with Vietnam's authorities to renew peace efforts for the Korean Peninsula. AP-Yonhap |
Ministry of Unification plans projects with Vietnam, key partner of both Koreas
By Jung Min-ho
After more than three years of no progress on the issue of peace for the Korean Peninsula, Seoul is now exploring ways to renew efforts in the country where it came to a sudden halt ― Vietnam.
In an effort to create something meaningful after the fruitless 2019 summit between Washington and Pyongyang in Hanoi, the Ministry of Unification will begin various projects this year with the authorities in Vietnam, such as building up an archive of how the Southeast Asian nation became an economic success story through its radical reforms.
According to a written plan Unification Minister Kwon Young-se submitted to President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, the ministry also seeks to set up a joint advisory group with Vietnam and strengthen ties with experts and scholars in that country.
Speaking to reporters the previous day, a high-ranking official at the ministry said authorities in Vietnam agreed to cooperate for the noteworthy cause and meet their South Korean counterparts to discuss possible joint projects.
"As we have learned lessons from German reunification over the past 30 years, North Korea took their lessons from Vietnam's example. We need to study what they study to learn what the North has learned so as to better comprehend its views," the official said.
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| Unification Minister Kwon Young-se speaks during a press conference at the government complex in Seoul, Friday, following his presentation to President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yonhap |
Citing Vietnam's decision to introduce "Doi Moi," the economic reforms initiated in 1986 to create a "socialist-oriented market economy," the official also mentioned the possibility that North Korea might consider emulating the same path eventually.
In fact, Vietnam has much know-how to share with North Korea. It fought a war with the U.S. for 20 years before its reunification in 1975 and suffered from harsh economic sanctions (for occupying Cambodia) by many countries afterward. However, since adopting a strategy of integrating itself into the world's free-market economic system, Vietnam has become richer and more stable. In the process, it also restored relations with the U.S. while maintaining friendly ties with North Korea and a one-party system.
There were signs that North Korea was willing to learn from its "communist comrade" state. In 2018, North Korea's then-Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho visited Vietnam to study its reforms. It was also reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's delegation informed Vietnam's government that he was interested in visiting a Samsung factory in the country ahead of his summit with then-U.S. President Donald Trump.
Yoon asked the ministry to stay optimistic and be prepared for the possibility of Korea's unification, which many now believe is improbable.
"The opportunity for unification could come suddenly and it would be achievable only if we were prepared," Yoon said.
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| A man reads a copy of the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's official newspaper, on a bus in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this Jan. 11, 2021, file photo. The Ministry of Unification plans to give the public better access to North Korean media. AFP-Yonhap |
South Korean public to get better access to one of North Korea's official newspapers
In another major project for 2023, the unification ministry said it plans to give the public better access to North Korean media.
The ministry will launch a pilot project to make Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of Pyongyang's Central Committee of the Workers' Party, more accessible to people here.
Reading the papers or watching TV content from the North is legally permissible ― but only in government-designated places. Few know where they are located and it is difficult to get up-to-date information. Therefore, most of those interested in understanding North Korea get such content from overseas-based websites or by using a VPN, which could be considered unlawful under the National Security Law.
Speaking to The Korea Times, a ministry official said the government ultimately aims to give the public online access to Rodong Sinmun and other North Korean media content. But doing so would take longer than a year, given many legal issues and concerns.
However, he said, lifting the decades-old ban on public access to such content would lead to a positive change in North Korea, as the informed and educated readers of the South could pressure North Korean reporters when they make or report illogical or foolish "facts."
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