Regular Briefing by Spokesperson Cho Joonghoon
Date: Monday,
October 17, 2022
Time: 10:30-10:33 A.M.
1. Unification Minister to meet families of detained citizens in
North Korea
As you may know, citizens of the Republic of
Korea have been detained in North Korea since 2013.
On October 21, Unification Minister Kwon Youngse will meet with the
families of two of the detained citizens to offer words of condolences
and explain the Government's commitment to resolving the detainee issue.
This is the first time the Unification Minister meets with the
family of a North Korea detainee. The Government has maintained that
the repatriation of our people detained in North Korea must be
addressed as it is the Government's basic duty of 'protecting its people'.
Through various channels such as family interviews, inter-Korean
talks and cooperation with the international community, the Ministry
will continue to make efforts to fundamentally solve the detainee
issues including ascertaining the life or death of the detainees,
visits, and release and repatriation.
2. Q&A
Q. China is holding the 20th Congress of the Communist Party from
this week, and there are several predictions that North Korea will
stop provocations for a while at such a political event. What is the
Ministry’s take on this?
A. I understand the question refers to any possibility of North
Korea’s additional provocation. The Unification Ministry is closely
monitoring the North’s developments and preparing for all
possibilities while closely cooperating with relevant agencies.
