South Korea wants to "make up for lost time"

South Korea's president proposed on Sunday that the North "make up for lost time and peace" to build a common future, on the anniversary of the first inter-Korean declaration since the division of the peninsula.

Lee Jae-myung said the “June 15 Declaration” in 2000 “was the starting point for tearing down the walls of confrontation and mistrust that had lasted for more than half a century and ushering in a new era of reconciliation and cooperation.”

The document “injected hope for peace on the peninsula and showed that shared prosperity between the North and South was possible,” Lee wrote in a message posted on the social network Facebook.

Then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (father of current leader Kim Jong-un) signed the declaration after a three-day summit.

A quarter of a century later, relations between the two Koreas are at their worst since the end of the Korean War (1950-53).

Lee today echoed the return “to a period of coldness similar to that of the past”, with the interruption of dialogue and exchanges between the two neighboring countries, and called for the resumption of the promise of peace emanating from that declaration.

“Let us transform ‘risk to Korea’ into ‘value to Korea’ and together build a future in which both Koreas can prosper,” proposed the South Korean leader, who pledged to stop “unnecessary hostile acts” and resume dialogue and cooperation.

“We will work quickly to restore the suspended inter-Korean communication channels and rebuild the crisis management system to reduce military tension and promote a peaceful environment,” Lee said.

“We can overcome current challenges by joining forces and combining wisdom,” he added.

The South Korean president added that he will work “to usher in a new era in which all peoples of the peninsula can coexist peacefully and prosper.”

A recent series of conciliatory gestures by the new Lee government and also by the United States, after more than five years of frozen dialogue, have raised expectations.

Most significant was the suspension, starting Wednesday, of propaganda broadcasts on loudspeakers along the border, to which Pyongyang responded by turning off its own devices.

South Korea had resumed broadcasts in June 2024. North Korean loudspeakers had been operating intermittently since July.

On Saturday, Lee Jae-myung also expressed opposition to the sending of leaflets against Kim Jong-un's regime to the North, an act he said he would penalize.

“The government has already stated that the illegal distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets must be stopped as it may endanger the safety of border residents and aggravate military tension on the Korean peninsula,” presidential spokeswoman Kang Yu-jung was quoted as saying by South Korea’s public news agency Yonhap.