FM nominee reaffirms push for hotline among two Koreas, US for dialogue anytime

South Korea's incoming administration will strive to establish a system for the two Koreas and the United States to have dialogue anytime through a liaison office at the truce village of Panmunjom or Washington, D.C., the nominee to become Seoul's top diplomat said Saturday.

In a written report to lawmakers ahead of his confirmation hearing, Park Jin pointed out that the three nations are "core parties concerned" with Korean Peninsula security issues.

Setting up such a liaison office was one of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's campaign pledges, and Park reaffirmed a commitment to implementing it

"The new government will always leave the door open for unconditional dialogue involving North Korea and make efforts to resume denuclearization talks under close coordination with the U.S.," Park said.

He reaffirmed a vision for achieving lasting peace and security on the peninsula through the complete and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea.

On whether the North is willing to denuclearize itself, Park said he thinks it currently has no intention to realize denuclearization on its own.

"Regardless of whether or not North Korea has the willingness to denuclearize, the right policy direction is to create conditions in which the North cannot but denuclearize and to make them realize that their nuclear weapons go against their own interests," he said.

Park also pledged to address North Korea's human rights issue in a serious manner, saying the incoming government takes the matter seriously.

He said it would take the initiative on the annual United Nations resolutions condemning the North's human rights abuse, unlike the outgoing liberal Moon Jae-in administration accused by conservative critics of having taken a tepid stance on the issue. (Yonhap)