South Korea: Assembly Speaker Woo calls for dialogue channels with Korea to stay open

Geneva/ Switzerland, July 30 South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said Wednesday that communication channels between South and North Korea should be kept open even as inter-Korean relations have been frayed.

Woo's remark came two days after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, issued a statement rejecting South Korea's outreach for talks at a time when President Lee Jae Myung has been seeking to resume inter-Korean dialogue to ease military tension and improve ties.

"Despite the difficulties, channels for dialogue must remain open," Woo said during his keynote speech at the sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, a global parliamentary meeting held in Switzerland.

"South and North Korea have stopped loudspeaker broadcasts, propaganda leaflets and balloons filled with waste and jamming signals, which were symbolic of confrontation and hostility."

He expressed hope that "small peace" taking shape along the inter-Korean border will expand into "greater peace" on the Korean Peninsula and eventually contribute to global peace, Yonhap News Agency.

Since taking office last month, the Lee administration has suspended loudspeaker broadcasts along the border and urged civic groups to halt anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns as part of efforts to mend frayed ties.

In his speech, Woo also highlighted resilience in South Korea's democracy in a political crisis sparked by former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law bid in December.

"South Korea has demonstrated that democracy grows stronger with the participation of sovereign citizens and the responsible role of parliament," he said.

On the sidelines of the conference, Woo met separately with his Japanese and Singaporean counterparts, Fukushiro Nukaga and Seah Kian Peng, respectively, to discuss ways to boost parliamentary diplomacy and cooperation.

Pak In-chol, chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, attended the conference. But an encounter between Woo and Pak apparently did not take place.

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