South Korean President Lee vows to expand support for residents near border with North

Seoul, Nov 14 South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Friday the government will step up support for regions bordering North Korea to compensate for their long-standing sacrifices and promote balanced regional growth.

Lee made the remarks during a town hall meeting in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, located just south of the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas. He had served as Governor of Gyeonggi Province from 2018 to 2021.

"I feel regret that the northern Gyeonggi region has been disproportionately excluded despite having made special sacrifices," Lee said, Yonhap News Agency reported.

He noted that border communities face extensive inconveniences due to strict military regulations near front-line areas, adding that the government will explore ways to promote development in the border regions.

Earlier on Monday, South Korea's Vice Unification Minister Kim Nam-jung said South Korea will pursue neither unification by absorption nor any hostile acts toward North Korea, reaffirming the policy of President Lee's government of building peace on the Korean Peninsula.

He made the remarks during a meeting with residents of border areas at Camp Greaves, a former US military base-turned-field-trip site in the western border city of Paju, just below the demilitarised zone.

"To achieve a peaceful Korean Peninsula without the need for conflict, the Lee Jae Myung government will recognise and respect the North Korean system and will neither pursue unification by absorption nor engage in any forms of hostile acts," Kim said.

The vice minister said inter-Korean relations deteriorated abnormally under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol government, adding that anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns at the border, as well as North Korea's retaliatory release of trash-carrying balloons and blaring of loud noise, have caused damage to border areas during the period.

"The fundamental solution to alleviating the suffering from the division is establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula," Kim said, emphasising that now is a crucial time for the two Koreas to return to dialogue and calling on Pyongyang to respond to Seoul's efforts for peace.

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