South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyon (right) visits New York to attend the 80th UN General Assembly high-level week. Cho is pictured with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (center) and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (left) at the ROK-US-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in New York on September 22 (local time). Yonhap News. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 24th that both "denuclearization of North Korea" and "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" mean "denuclearization of North Korea."

This is an explanation regarding the discrepancy in terminology between the joint statement from the ROK-US-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in New York on September 22 (local time) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press release announcing the meeting results.

The joint statement from the meeting included the phrase that the three ministers "reaffirmed their firm commitment to the complete denuclearization of the DPRK."

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press release stated that the three ministers agreed to "uphold the principle of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and maintain deterrence against North Korea."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "The reason for using the expression 'principle of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula' (instead of denuclearization of North Korea) in the press release was to emphasize that the principle of denuclearization has already been agreed upon multiple times between the US and North Korea, and between the South and North, through the 2018 Singapore Joint Statement and the 1992 Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

Previously, during the previous administration, in February of this year, the government announced that the ROK and the US had agreed to use the expression "denuclearization of North Korea" rather than "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." At that time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "'Denuclearization of North Korea' is an expression that clarifies North Korea's obligation violations and the need for implementation."

Since the launch of the current administration, the ROK-US-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting on July 11, attended by First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Yoon-ju, and the ROK-US-Japan Vice Foreign Ministers' Meeting on July 18, both used the expression "denuclearization of North Korea."

The Lee Jae-myung administration appears to have adopted a stance that it does not place significance on the terminological distinction, based on the recognition that there is no practical difference between denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and denuclearization of North Korea, given that North Korea is the entity pursuing nuclear development on the Korean Peninsula.

However, from the perspective of actively pursuing engagement with North Korea, it is also likely that the government considered that North Korea would be more resistant to "denuclearization of North Korea" than to "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

Yonhap News