Minister of Unification Hyun In Taek pointed out on Wednesday, “North Korea has been exploiting blind spots in the gradual and phased nuclear strategy of the international community.”
Minister Hyun was speaking at a debate held by Kim Choong Whan, a Grand National Party member of the National Assembly in Seoul, entitled, “The Practical way of the Grand Bargain and the North Korean trust fund.” “We have negotiated in various ways and through various channels to solve North Korean nuclear problems for the last two decades,” Hyun said, “but nuclear negotiations were not able to reach the final destination, instead repeatedly progressing and retreating. Therefore, the situation has continuously deteriorated.”
He emphasized, “South Korea, as a responsible main body, has to consider countermeasures to solve the North Korean nuclear problem. We expect to negotiate the ‘Grand Bargain’ through inter-Korean dialogue soon.”
The “Grand Bargain,” he explained, “is a comprehensive approach to fundamentally solve the nuclear problems and break the repeated pattern of the past.”
“North Korea ought to discover that it is impossible to form normal relations with the international community and develop its economy while maintaining its nuclear weapons,” he said.
He added, “It is time to focus on cooperation with the international community so that North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons soon.”
