South Korean Reunification Minister Lee In-young to begin European tour
South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young will meet with officials in Germany, Belgium and Sweden from today until October 4 as part of a North-South peacemaking initiative.
As the 31st anniversary of the reunification of Germany draws near, Lee is expected to meet German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on how Germany’s reunification could be applied to inter-Korean relations. Overall, the trip will cover peacemaking talks on the Korean situation as Lee seeks to procure active mediation from major EU players and expert advice from European think-tanks. In Sweden, officials are set to focus on their role in the improvement of inter-Korean and US-North Korean relations.
Lee In-young has been taking a more active role in North-South relations since North Korea demolished the inter-Korean liaison office in June last year. Regrouping with senior European officials designated to the issues on the Korean Peninsula will be effective from an information-gathering perspective in the short-term. However, the reality of inter-Korean relations is incomparable to that of a once divided Germany. Strategies by the Western bloc have fallen flat post-Hanoi as regular nuclear provocations from North Korea are maintained and the most recent calls by South Korea to formally end the Korean War are rejected.
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