Seoul: Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea’s new president and the leader of the nation’s first conservative government in five years, said in his inaugural speech that the door for dialogue with North Korea was open despite the North’s increasing missile activities.
Yoon Suk Yeol was sworn in as South Korea’s new president on Tuesday. He used his inaugural speech to underscore the importance of dialogue with North Korea to peacefully resolve the “threats” posed by the country, reported Kyodo News.
Among the foreign guests attending the ceremony were US second gentleman Douglas Emhoff and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.
Yoon emphasized the value of freedom and sustainable peace. “While North Korea’s nuclear weapon programs are a threat not only to our security and that of Northeast Asia, the door to dialogue will remain open so that we can peacefully resolve this threat,” he said.
The president noted that the denuclearization will “greatly contribute” to bringing sustainable peace to the peninsula as well as peace and prosperity to Asia and the world.
“If North Korea genuinely embarks on a process to complete denuclearization, we are prepared to work with the international community to present an audacious plan that will vastly strengthen North Korea’s economy and improve the quality of life for its people,” he added, as per the media portal.
Notably, in South Korea, a president serves a single five-year term.