South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday, 28 June pledged that his government would pursue a resolution to the long-standing issue of South Korean citizens abducted by North Korea during the 1950–53 Korean War through 'dialogue and cooperation.' The commitment was delivered at an event marking Korean War Abductees Remembrance Day in Paju, north of Seoul, where Lee's message was read on his behalf by Vice Unification Minister Kim Nam-jung.

Lee's Pledge on Abductees

'The government will not allow the issue of abductees to be buried in history,' Lee said in his message. 'Through dialogue and cooperation, (the government) will seek to make sustained efforts to achieve a practical resolution,' he added. Lee also expressed regret that families have been separated from abductees held in North Korea for over 70 years, and vowed to shift the relationship between the two Koreas from 'hostility and confrontation' toward 'peaceful coexistence.'

Sunday's event was the second of its kind since the remembrance day was formally designated by law in late 2024 to be observed annually on 28 June. Approximately 300 personnel attended, including the vice unification minister, family members of abductees, and officials from related agencies.

Unification Minister Calls for Denuclearisation Rethink

In a separate but related development on Friday, South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young called for moving away from an approach that treats denuclearisation as the sole precondition for engagement with Pyongyang. Speaking at the Korean Peninsula Symposium, co-hosted by a South Korean news outlet, Chung argued that insisting on denuclearisation as a prerequisite has been a primary driver of stalled diplomacy.

'As the past 30 years have shown, whenever peace talks were halted by the denuclearisation hurdle, North Korea used that time to further advance its nuclear capabilities,' Chung said. He called for a 'paradigm shift' toward a phased and pragmatic approach — a three-stage process of 'freeze, reduction and denuclearisation.'

A Phased Approach to Peace

Chung outlined a step-by-step framework: first halting, then scaling down, and ultimately eliminating North Korea's nuclear programme. He noted that China has expressed support for this pragmatic approach. Crucially, he stressed that the process must begin with direct dialogue between the United States and North Korea.

'As agreed in the 2018 Singapore summit between North Korea and the US, both sides should immediately resume talks to end mutual hostility and establish a new relationship,' Chung said. He further argued that resuming US–North Korea dialogue would catalyse broader four-party talks involving the US, China, and both Koreas.

Context and Significance

The twin statements from Lee and Chung signal a notable shift in Seoul's diplomatic posture — from a hardline denuclearisation-first stance toward conditional, phased engagement. This comes amid a broader international debate over how to re-engage Pyongyang after years of failed multilateral efforts. Notably, North Korea has used each period of diplomatic stalemate since the early 1990s to significantly advance its weapons programme, a pattern Chung explicitly referenced. The abductee issue, meanwhile, remains one of the most emotionally charged bilateral disputes, with hundreds of families still awaiting any news of relatives taken more than seven decades ago. Whether Pyongyang will respond to Seoul's overtures remains to be seen.