Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said on the 27th that talks between the United States and North Korea should be expanded into four-way talks involving South Korea, North Korea, the United States and China to convert the armistice on the Korean Peninsula into a peace regime.
"Rather than sitting still and watching what the United States does, we must move proactively and actively to create space and bring about U.S.-North Korea talks," Chung said in an opening address at the 2026 Global Korea Forum at the Westin Josun Seoul. "We must concentrate all our capabilities so that this does not stop at U.S.-North Korea talks but leads to four-way talks among the two Koreas, the United States and China." He added that converting the armistice into a peace regime through four-way talks is "the fundamental solution to the Korean Peninsula issue," and that "we, as a party to the issue, must take the lead creatively and actively."
Pointing to U.S. President Donald Trump's recent scaling back of joint military exercises with South Korea and his stated willingness to resume talks with North Korea this year, Chung said "another great transformation is beginning." He added, "I interpret this as a window of opportunity opening, not a crisis." He also said, "We must not come to a halt but continuously seize the opportunity for peace," and that South Korea "must bring about U.S.-North Korea talks through its role as a pacemaker."
Specifically, Chung said the government "must promote U.S.-North Korea talks and four-way talks through preemptive and continuous peace measures and trust-building measures, and must prepare concrete plans for discussing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula at a whole-of-government level." He added that South Korea "must communicate strategically with relevant countries and build a consensus at home and abroad on establishing a peace regime."
On the approach to denuclearization, Chung said, "Even at this moment, North Korea's nuclear capabilities are growing. The North is repeatedly stressing that it will exercise the status of a nuclear weapons state." He added, "The reality is therefore that an approach that puts complete denuclearization first, as in the past, can no longer be sustained."
President Lee Jae-myung, in congratulatory remarks read on his behalf by Lim Woong-soon, deputy director of the National Security Office, said of the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula that "fortunately, signs of change are emerging." He added, "The Republic of Korea, as a party to peace on the Korean Peninsula and as a pacemaker, will support trust-building and the resumption of dialogue between the United States and North Korea, and will work without wavering to realize a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula."
Lee said that "despite our government's efforts to ease military tensions and resume dialogue, the North is sticking to its hostile line." He added, "But this cannot be a reason to halt peace on the Korean Peninsula. Through dialogue and cooperation based on respect, we must build a Korean Peninsula where there is no need to fight, as soon as possible."
The Global Korea Forum, hosted by the Ministry of Unification and organized by the Korea Institute for National Unification, is an international academic conference that has been held since 2010. This year's forum runs for two days on the 27th and 28th under the theme "A New Paradigm for Peaceful Coexistence on the Korean Peninsula in an Era of Great Transformation in the International Order."
