Date: Monday, November 18, 2019
Time: 10:30-10:40 A.M.
1. Minister's Schedule
Minister Kim Yeon Chul is visiting the United States from November
17 to 23. Minister Kim will be in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles
during the visit, and will deliver a keynote speech at the Korea
Global Forum for Peace.
2. Vice Minister's Schedules
Vice Minister Suh Ho will attend the cabinet meeting tomorrow(11.19)
at 10 A.M., followed by a policy forum between the Unification
Ministry and the Korea Institute for National Unification at 11 A.M.
On Wednesday(11.20), Vice Minister Suh will deliver congratulatory
remarks at an inaugural meeting of the association of national
literary writers gathered in commemoration of the June 15 Joint Declaration(2000).
On Thursday(11.21), Vice Minister Suh will attend the
vice-ministers’ conference at 10:30 A.M.
On Friday(11.22), Vice Minister Suh will deliver congratulatory
remarks at an academic seminar on inter-Korean cooperation and peace
economy at 2:30 P.M.
3. Q&A (Partial)
Q. It has been a week since the North’s Korean Central News Agency
reported that the North delivered an ultimatum to the South regarding
Mount Geumgang ? is there any further development regarding this that
you can share?
A. There is a great gap between the positions of the two Koreas
regarding issues concerning the Mt. Geumgang tourism zone.
Accordingly, the ROKG is coming up with measures through close
consultations with business operators. We will let you know of any
additional developments in the future if there are any, and after the
follow-up measures are finalized.
Q. Regarding the ultimatum, the North technically implied the
possibility of removing the South’s facilities on its own discretion.
What is your take on this?
A. The North has unilaterally demanded that we send the schedule and
plan of the withdrawal in the form of document exchange. This
contradicts with our position, which calls for face-to-face meetings
between related parties. It is our interpretation that the North has
hinted at the possibility of removing the South’s facilities on its
own discretion.
However, the North has also noted through a Rodong Sinmun report
that it will resolve this issue through consultations with the South.
Therefore, we are putting emphasis on this and urging for the North to
positively respond to our request to resolve the issue through dialogue.