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| ▲ Unification Minister nominee Chung Dong-young speaks at a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly on July 14, 2025. (Yonhap) |
(2nd LD) unification minister nominee-confirmation hearing
(2nd LD) Unification minister nominee raises need to change name of unification ministry
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SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- Unification Minister nominee Chung Dong-young on Monday raised the need to consider changing the name of the unification ministry, suggesting the Ministry of the Korean Peninsula could be one of the choices for the new name.
Chung made the remarks during a parliamentary confirmation hearing amid controversy over whether South Korea should change the name of the Ministry of Unification in charge of inter-Korean affairs by dropping the unification reference.
"This would be a very important issue to be discussed with the National Assembly," Chung said.
"There is a need to consider changing the name of the unification ministry. The Ministry of the Korean Peninsula could be one of the options," he noted.
Some liberal experts insist the name change would help dispel North Korea's doubts about South Korea's possible pursuit of absorption-based unification and set the stage for resuming inter-Korean dialogue.
But conservatives and even some former liberal unification ministers are opposed to the name change, saying it could be misunderstood as South Korea not seeking unification. The Constitution stipulates South Korea will seek national unification in a peaceful manner.
Chung, a journalist-turned-lawmaker, was nominated last month as the first unification minister under the Lee Jae Myung administration. He previously serviced as unification minister in 2004-05 under former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun.
On North Korea defining inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other" in 2023, Chung said he thinks it was the North's response to the former South Korean government's hard-line stance against Pyongyang.
Calling the way that East and West Germany unified a "pragmatic" approach, the nominee assessed they pursued unification through exchanges and cooperation while effectively recognizing them as two separate states.
"What the Lee Jae Myung government needs to pursue is pragmatism," he said.
Chung said former liberal President Moon Jae-in's proposal in 2017 to suspend a joint military exercise with the United States helped resume inter-Korean dialogue on the occasion of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
"This is an issue that needs to be discussed at meetings of the National Security Council," Chung said.
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