President Lee Jae-myung, who is on a European tour, declared peace solidarity in a commemorative speech delivered at St. Paul's Basilica in Rome on Saturday. "I hope we can together create a virtuous cycle in which peace on the Korean Peninsula leads to world peace, and global solidarity in turn strengthens peace on the Korean Peninsula," he said. In particular, he cited the biblical verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." The remarks are read as an intention to open the way for the "END Initiative," a three-stage Korean Peninsula peace plan of inter-Korean exchanges, normalization of relations, and denuclearization, with the support of the Catholic community. If Pope Leo XIV visits North Korea on the occasion of attending World Youth Day, a Catholic event to be held in Seoul next year, international discussions for establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula could also gain rapid momentum.
U.S. President Donald Trump also appears to have the resumption of dialogue with North Korea in mind, after wrapping up an agreement on ending the war and denuclearization with Iran. The previous day, Trump posted on social media a photo of himself walking alongside North Korean leader Kim Jong-un eight years ago. The Trump administration is emphasizing the goal of "complete denuclearization of North Korea." However, there are strong concerns that Trump may pursue a "small deal," such as a nuclear freeze, instead of denuclearization, in order to package a political achievement. North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently fiercely denounced the joint statement of the Korea-European Union (EU) summit, which contained a position rejecting North Korea's nuclear weapons, saying that "South Korea is the foremost hostile state that absolutely cannot coexist." North Korea is trying to drive a wedge into the South Korea-U.S. alliance by pursuing nuclear arms reduction negotiations with the United States while excluding South Korea.
For our government to build a peace framework that remains unshaken by North Korea's strategy of engaging Washington while sidelining Seoul, consistent message management is important — that there will be absolutely no concessions on the principle of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. In that respect, it was very timely for President Lee to proclaim his will to reject North Korea's nuclear weapons through this European tour. The remaining task is to strengthen international cooperation so that North Korea cannot make the misjudgment that it can continue illegal nuclear development by relying on its solidarity with China and Russia. To this end, the South Korea-U.S. alliance must first be made even more firm. In addition, on the occasion of President Lee's European tour, security cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) must also be strengthened. It goes without saying that there must be no recurrence of competing factions within our security apparatus.
