Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Wednesday that the land mine blast in the Demilitarized Zone last month has made the need for "fundamental peace" on the Korean Peninsula "ever more crucial."
He made the remarks at a parliamentary audit of the ministry, while referring to the Sept. 21 explosion of North Korea-planted land mines that injured three South Korean soldiers.
"We must make a thorough preparation to prevent this kind of tragic event from happening again," the minister said.
The incident, he said, would not deter the ministry from seeking peaceful solutions to inter-Korean issues, reiterating its commitment to peaceful coexistence and dialogue.
The ministry struck a similar note the previous day in its official response to the military's findings that blamed North Korea for the Sept. 21 blast.
It said it would "keep working to break the vicious cycle of hostility and confrontation, and to build a virtuous cycle of peace and prosperity," pursuing lasting peace "through communication rather than a hard-line standoff."
The most central task ahead, Chung said, is to "end the long-running war and to build a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula."
He said the "unstable" armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War should be replaced with a "continuous, stable peace" system.
"The government will do its utmost to enable dialogue to build a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula as the main player of the Korean issue and a core peacemaker," he said. (Yonhap)
