Democratic Party of Korea forms committee for pragmatic approach to foreign affairs

The Democratic Party of Korea on Friday launched a committee for peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia dedicated to shaping diplomacy and foreign policy based on the pragmatic approach of Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the party's chair.

Helming the committee, Rep. Wi Sung-lac, who was Seoul's ambassador to Moscow, said that the international climate surrounding the Korean Peninsula is "more complex than ever."

"A pragmatic, agile approach to foreign and security policies is needed now more than ever, to defend peace and South Korea's national interests," Wi said.

Elaborating, Wi said South Korea needs to strengthen its alliance with the US and trilateral cooperation with the US and Japan, while at the same time adopting an "integrated and holistic" approach responding to its key neighbors, China and Russia.

Lee, the main opposition party chair, said in a written address that South Korea was "in need of a swift and delicate strategy that can fill the vacuum in leadership, created by the illegal martial law declaration by Yoon Suk Yeol, and does not lead to an absence of power on the diplomatic stage."

"The path facing us is clear. What we need is a strong South Korea-US alliance and pragmatic diplomacy based on the principles of security cooperation between the US, South Korea and Japan," Lee said.

The committee gathers experts in foreign and security affairs from outside the party including Jun Bong-geun, professor emeritus at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy for training South Korea's diplomats; Cho Hyun, former permanent ambassador to the United Nations; Suh Hyung-won, former ambassador to Croatia; and Hong Hyun-ik, emeritus senior fellow at the Sejong Institute.