South Korea’s Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell vowed Monday to work together to promote accountability for North Korea’s human rights abuses and “unfettered” access to information for people in the reclusive state, the State Department said.
They held a meeting at the department as Kim is in Washington for talks with administration officials, lawmakers and think tank scholars to discuss North Korea and other related issues. His trip is set to run through Friday.
“Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to U.S.-ROK collaboration, promoting accountability for DPRK human rights abuses, and supporting unfettered access to information for North Koreans,” Matthew Miller, the department’s spokesperson, said in a readout.
ROK and DPRK stand for the official names of South Korea and North Korea, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, respectively.
Campbell reiterated Washington’s support for the reunification of separated families, including Korean Americans with family members in the North, and South Korean detainees, abductees and unrepatriated prisoners of war, according to Miller.
The two sides also emphasized the importance of deterring North Korean aggression and addressing the “destabilizing” impacts of deepening cooperation between the North and Russia on international peace and the global nonproliferation regime, Miller said.
Their meeting was followed by a roundtable discussion with two North Korean escapees.
In a meeting with reporters, Kim said he discussed North Korean defectors’ forced repatriation and security on the Korean Peninsula, among other issues.
“I brought up the issue (of defectors’ repatriation) and discussed the importance of cooperation between U.S. and South Korean governments on that matter,” Kim told reporters.
Seoul and Washington have been coordinating to ensure North Korean defectors, particularly those in China, will not be sent back to the North against their will. They have been calling for China and other countries to abide by the international principle of non-refoulement.
During the talks, Kim also called for Washington’s cooperation with Seoul’s ongoing efforts to craft a new discourse for national reunification that focuses on freedom and other values.
“I told the U.S. side that we are preparing to announce a new discourse on unification,” he said. “Though we have not yet made decisions in 스포츠 terms of when and what to announce and in what format, we asked for the U.S. side’s interest and cooperation.”
Pointing to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s speech marking the 1919 independence movement against Japanese colonial rule, Kim stressed that “unification should materialize in a way that ensures all individuals in the two Koreas can enjoy freedom and affluence.”
Kim’s visit to Washington comes at a time of heightened uncertainty in U.S. politics after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday while former President Donald Trump is cranking up his reelection campaign.
