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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during a military parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea on Oct. 10. (KCNA/Yonhap News)

On Oct. 11, the Blue House offered a hopeful response to a speech by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by “taking note of North Korea’s proposal to restore inter-Korean relations as soon as the right conditions are in place.” Kim made his speech during a military parade held the previous day, on the 75th anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

The Blue House response came in a press briefing held after Kim’s speech was analyzed during an emergency meeting of the standing committee of the National Security Council, presided over by Suh Hoon, director of the Blue House National Security Office, on Sunday morning. The Blue House noted that Kim had told his “beloved compatriots in the South” that he looks forward to “the day when North and South can work together once again.” The Blue House considers this language unusual compared to the speeches made at military parades of the past.

“We will closely follow related developments [in North Korea], and the relevant ministries will coordinate the position they take in dealing with [those developments],” the Blue House also said.

Following the briefing, the Ministry of Unification (MOU) released a statement. “We expect that the content of the speech will lead to peace on the Korean Peninsula and the development of inter-Korean relations. Toward that end, we hope to resume mutual cooperation on humanitarian issues and public health and medicine, including COVID-19, as soon as the conditions are right and inter-Korean dialogue is restored,” it said.

In a statement of its own, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said, “We look forward to a positive response from North Korea about Moon’s proposal for a Northeast Asian initiative for infectious disease control and public health and the emphasis he placed on an end-of-war declaration [for the Korean War] in his keynote address to the 75th UN General Assembly in September.”

“These remarks raise hopes that inter-Korean cooperation will resume after the coronavirus pandemic,” Democratic Party lawmaker Song Young-gil, chair of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, wrote on Facebook.

However, the Blue House said at the beginning of the briefing on Sunday that “the committee members emphasized that there must be compliance with the various agreements reached by South and North Korea in regard to preventing wars and armed conflict.”

“[The committee members] urged North Korea to generously agree to the South Korean proposal for a quick investigation into the death of a South Korean citizen in the West Sea,” the Blue House added.

N. Korea’s new ICBM and lack of response to calls for joint investigation of shooting of S. Korean official

Recent efforts by the South Korean government to improve its relations with North Korea as well as North Korea’s relations with the US were jeopardized by the fatal shooting of a South Korean government official last month near Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea. While the Blue House has called for a joint investigation into the shooting, North Korea hasn’t offered any response. That may also explain why the Blue House used neutral language about “taking note of” North Korea’s position about restoring inter-Korean relations.

The standing committee also paid close attention to the new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that North Korea unveiled in its military parade. “The committee members have agreed to continue analyzing the strategic significance and the specifications of the new weapon systems that were revealed and to continue reviewing our defensive capabilities in relation to that,” the Blue House said.

“We are concerned about North Korea’s disclosure of what are assumed to be new long-range ballistic missiles,” the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a position statement published after the Blue House’s briefing on Sunday.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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