SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that North Korea policy is set through coordination centered on the National Security Council, answering questions about whether it and the Unification Ministry are working from different positions.
"The government has consistently pursued policy for the peace process on the Korean Peninsula under close coordination among relevant ministries centered on the National Security Council," spokesperson Park Doo-soon told a regular briefing.
The questions followed two days of public exchange between the two ministers. After the foreign, unification, defense and veterans affairs ministries delivered their half-year reports to the president on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun described the Unification Ministry's plan for four-party talks toward a peace regime as idealistic and asked reporters to discount it.
Chung Dong-young answered the next morning on his way into Government Complex Seoul in central Seoul: "Ideals are what change reality. I think it helps the government when we cooperate well with each other."
Park was also asked about the Unification Ministry's proposal to open public debate on calling North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"As the president mentioned yesterday, we consider this a matter for careful review among the relevant ministries, taking account of such things as the formation of a national consensus," he said.
Asked whether the proposal could affect relations with Washington, Park said security questions between ministries run through the same National Security Council channel.
Chung put the naming proposal to President Lee Jae Myung at the presidential Blue House on Wednesday, arguing that calling the other side by its own name is the first step toward the trust that peaceful coexistence requires. Lee urged caution, saying the question was open to dispute and that he had doubts about whether it would help stability on the peninsula.
Chung said the president had also encouraged the ministry to keep going. "He said that although it will be hard, like shouting without an echo, we should carry on with the peaceful coexistence policy with patience," Chung said.
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