Jeong Dong-young: "Full Permission for Private Contact with North Korea... Revocation of Restriction Guidelines"

"Adjustment of ROK-US Joint Military Exercise Next Month to be Reviewed at Next Week's NSC"

Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-young (Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Do-hoon = Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-young is giving his inauguration speech at the inauguration ceremony held at the annex of the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 25th. 2025.7.25 superdoo82@yna.co.kr

 The Ministry of Unification has abolished its guidelines that restricted private sector contact with North Korea.

Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-young met with reporters on his way to work on the 31st and said, "Yesterday, I approved the abolition of the 'Guidelines for Processing Contact Reports with North Korean Residents'."

This is an internal guideline of the Ministry of Unification that outlines the criteria for refusing contact when the private sector submits a contact report to the Ministry of Unification in accordance with the 'Act on Exchange and Cooperation between the South and the North'.

By providing criteria for the Ministry of Unification to refuse to accept contact reports, it served as the basis for operating the reporting system as a de facto permit system. For example, if there was a possibility that the contact party was a North Korean agent, the Ministry of Unification could refuse to accept the report.

Minister Jeong stated, "These were guidelines that allowed the government to arbitrarily judge whether to refuse a contact report, and I ordered them to be abolished," adding, "This is full permission for private sector contact."

He further commented, "Free contact among citizens leads to mutual understanding, and mutual understanding leads to coexistence," evaluating the measure as a reflection of the philosophy of a government based on national sovereignty.

He also announced that he would pursue amendments to the law to prevent the potential abuse of the reporting system under the Act on Exchange and Cooperation between the South and the North as a permit system, depending on the government.

Meanwhile, Minister Jeong said that at the National Security Council (NSC) meeting scheduled for next week, "a review will be conducted" regarding the adjustment of the ROK-US joint military exercise 'Ulchi Freedom Shield' (UFS), which is scheduled to begin in mid-August.

This issue was discussed at the vice-ministerial NSC working-level coordination meeting on the 29th, but specific details were not disclosed.

Regarding some reports suggesting that it was too late to adjust UFS, which the ROK and the US have been preparing for months, and thus it was decided to proceed as planned, Minister Jeong said, "That is unlikely to be true." Yonhap News