ROK President says talks with DPRK should not be for political show

On August 17, 2022, ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol delivers a speech at the presidential office in Seoul, marking his first 100 days in office. CHUNG SUNG-JUN POOL AFP SEOUL Talks with the Democratic People s Republic of Korea should not be for political show but contribute to establishing peace, President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday at a wide-ranging press conference to mark his first 100 days in office.

Yoon said he would give phased economic aid to DPRK if it ended nuclear weapons development and began denuclearization, and he said he had called for a dialogue with Pyongyang since his campaign.

He said that any dialogue between the leaders of South and North, or negotiations between main working-level officials, should not be a political show but should contribute to establishing substantive peace on the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia.

North Korea is also referred to as the DPRK, and South Korea is also referred to as the ROK.

ROK was not in a position to guarantee the DPRK's security if it gave up its nuclear weapons, but Seoul did not want a forced change in the status quo in Pyongyang, Yoon said.

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The recent missile tests and nuclear development of the DPRK have revived debate over whether or not the ROK should pursue its own nuclear weapons. Yoon said he was committed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons NPT and working with the US to boost its extended deterrence for ROK.

He said that the NPT should not be abandoned and I will adhere to that until the end.

Yoon was pressed by media on a range of issues including labour reform, housing shortages and recovery from recent floods after falling poll numbers and controversies over his picks for top ministers.

Two strikes have cost industry more than US $1.6 billion since Yoon came to office in May, according to labor ministry and shipbuilder estimates, although neither involved government suppression before ending.

He stated that he would always allow time for dialogue and compromise before he would suppress an illegal strike.

Yoon called for ending the discrepancies between workers who do the same job, such as between direct hires and contract workers, without elaborating on how.

He also talked about major weapons sales including a deal with Poland, a NATO-member country, which involved more than 1,600 tanks and howitzers, and nearly 50 fighter jets.

He declined to say whether his government would change its policy of not directly providing lethal aid to Ukraine.

He said that historical disputes with Japan dating back to its colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 -- 1945 could be overcome and that the two countries needed to cooperate more closely on supply chain and economic security.