Lee: The path to peace is not easy... Chung Dong-young: We must take the lead in pushing for four-party talks

[Financial News] President Lee Jae Myung said the road to peace on the Korean Peninsula is not easy, but that efforts must continue. He made the remarks in a congratulatory address at the "2026 International Korea Forum" hosted by the Ministry of Unification at The Westin Josun Seoul in Jung District, Seoul, on the 27th. The address was delivered by Deputy Director of the Office of National Security Im Woong-soon.
President Lee said, "The road to peace is not an easy one. Despite our government's efforts to ease military tensions and resume dialogue, the North continues to cling to a hostile line." He added that this cannot be a reason to stop working toward peace on the Korean Peninsula.
He said, "When solutions are not easy to see, that is precisely when we need time to sit together and find a way forward." He also revisited the blueprint for peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula that he outlined in his Liberation Day address, stressing mutual respect between the two Koreas.
Lee said, "Fortunately, signs of change are emerging." He added, "U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his willingness to meet with Chairman Kim Jong Un. South Korea, as a party to peace on the Korean Peninsula and as a pacemaker, will also work steadily to support trust-building and the resumption of dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang, and to realize a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula."
In his opening remarks, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young emphasized that South Korea must keep moving without pause and seize this rare opportunity for peace.
He said, "Our government must use its pacemaker role to bring about U.S.-North Korea dialogue. That means opening the way one step ahead. Rather than sitting still and waiting for developments in the United States, we must move proactively and take the lead in creating space for U.S.-North Korea talks."
Chung stressed that efforts should not stop at U.S.-North Korea dialogue, but should be focused on extending it to four-party talks involving South Korea, North Korea, the United States, and China. He said that transforming the unstable armistice system into a peace regime through four-party talks is the fundamental solution to the Korean Peninsula issue.
He said, "We, as the parties involved, must creatively and actively take the lead in the transition to a peace regime." He also said that the government should promote U.S.-North Korea dialogue and four-party talks through preemptive and sustained peace measures and confidence-building steps, and prepare concrete, whole-of-government plans for discussions on a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
Chung said, "We must communicate strategically with relevant countries and build consensus at home and abroad for establishing a peace regime. A peace regime will become a new path, one that begins on the Korean Peninsula and spreads peace beyond the region to the world."
He also said it would be a way to end the unfinished war on the Korean Peninsula and ultimately move toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. Chung noted that in May 1992, North Korea reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it had 90 grams of plutonium extracted from a 5-megawatt experimental reactor. He expressed concern that more than 30 years later, President Trump publicly said North Korea possessed 57 nuclear weapons, a stark difference. Meanwhile, at the forum, Jared Diamond, the renowned UCLA professor emeritus and author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, delivered a keynote speech on the theme, "A Nation's Choice: From Division to Peaceful Coexistence."

[email protected] Kim Kyung-soo Reporter