On October 4, Minister Kwon Youngse visited President Steinmeier,
exchanged his views on the Korean Peninsula issue, and shared lessons
from German reunification.
Minister Kwon explained to President Steinmeier the ROK Government's
"Audacious Initiative,” and asked for Germany's active support to
elicit a response from North Korea.
President Steinmeier paid great interest in the current situation on
the Korean Peninsula by asking many questions, and he expressed his
full support for the Korean Government's sincere efforts to
denuclearize North Korea and reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Minister Kwon conducted an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung(FAZ), a representative German media outlet, on the recent
inter-Korean relations, German reunification, the situation on the
Korean Peninsula, the ROK Government's unification and the North Korea
policy, including the "Audacious Initiative.”
In addition, the Minister had a meeting with Horst Teltschik,
foreign and security policy advisor to former Chancellor Helmut Kohl
and the elder of German unification, and listened to insights and
experiences that occurred during the process of German unification and
social integration.
Minister Kwon also met with 50 students from the Free University of
Berlin and compared the past unification environments between North
and South Korea and East and West Germany. He further shared with the
students the bipartisan unification policy of the Yoon administration.
In the evening, he met with former member of the Bundestag, Hartmut
Koschyk to discuss various ways of cooperation between Korea and
Germany to improve inter-Korean relations.
Finally yet importantly, Minister Kwon attended a concert on peace
on the Korean Peninsula, a cultural event for overseas Koreans, and
emphasized the importance of cultural exchange between the two Koreas
to restore the homogeneity of our people.
