The government has put together a five-year blueprint for improving relations with North Korea and will report it to the National Assembly later this week, unification ministry officials said Tuesday.
The Third Basic Plan for Developing Inter-Korean Relations lays out the objectives and directions of the government's policy on inter-Korean relations for 2018-2022. It will replace the second basic plan drawn up in 2013 during the administration of former President Park Geun-hye.
(Yonhap)
Officials said the unification ministry is expected to report the latest blueprint and an implementation plan for 2018 on Thursday. After the parliamentary report, it will be made public in the form of publication in the government's official gazette.
The Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act calls for the unification minister to formulate a master plan every five years on how to develop inter-Korean relations, as well as annual implementation plans in accordance with the master plan.
The latest plan should have come earlier to replace the previous version that expired last year. Officials said the latest plan has been delayed to reflect the hectic developments in inter-Korean ties and relations between the United States and the North, such as three inter-Korean summits and the US-North Korea summit.
A government source said that the latest blueprint "does not deviate much from the ongoing inter-Korean relations," but it will be markedly different from the previous plan that was drawn up when relations with the North were highly tense. (Yonhap)
