President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday said that he has weighed issuing an apology to North Korea over the leaflets sent during the previous administration, as a gesture to ease tensions.
During the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration, activists had resumed floating balloons carrying leaflets denouncing the North Korean regime across the border. The North denounced the leaflets as provocations, and responded by floating balloons carrying waste.
Q. Recently you commented on social media that the previous government brought the country to the brink of war, amid allegations of covert leaflet operations to North Korea, which have been denounced by Pyongyang before the United Nations. Would your administration consider issuing a state level apology to Pyongyang for this action as a way to reduce tensions?
A. It is as if you have looked inside my mind to ask such a question.
I have not been able to bring myself to say anything.
I think that an apology should be made, but at the same time (an apology) could become a topic of ideological clash, the so-called pro-North framing, so I have not been able to say something due to such concerns.
I feel relieved, and feel as though my inner thoughts have been revealed. I will leave it there.
khnews@heraldcorp.com
