South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young proposed on Thursday resuming four-party talks involving South Korea, North Korea, the United States and China, calling for a new “peace identity” in Northeast Asia. He made the remarks during a special address at the 11th Ulaanbaatar Dialogue in Mongolia.
The dialogue, which began in 2014 as a private academic conference and was upgraded in 2017 to a Track 1.5 forum involving government and nongovernment participants, has not been attended by North Korea since 2019.
Chung, on his first visit to Mongolia as unification minister, said, “A four-party dialogue among the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the United States and China is possible,” according to a translated account of his address published by Asia Today and reported by UPI. He added that the framework should be expanded to include Mongolia, Japan, Russia and other regional countries.
Chung referred to the September 19 Joint Statement adopted during the six-party talks in 2005, in which the six parties agreed to promote lasting peace and security in Northeast Asia. “It is time to apply that experience to today’s reality and rekindle the flame of dialogue,” he said.
The unification minister also proposed strengthening cooperation under the Greater Tumen Initiative, a multilateral platform for development and economic cooperation in Northeast Asia. He called for connecting regional railway networks — including the Trans-Siberian Railway, Trans-China Railway, Trans-Mongolian Railway and a proposed Seoul-Beijing high-speed rail link — with the Arctic shipping route.
“By connecting transportation networks with regional markets and trade flows, we can build an innovative logistics network across Eurasia,” Chung said. He urged North Korea to rejoin the Greater Tumen Initiative as a full member, saying, “They would be the biggest beneficiary of this vision.” North Korea was an early member of the initiative but withdrew in 2009.
Chung said three goals must move forward together: rebuilding trust between the two Koreas, institutionalizing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula and advancing multilateral dialogue in Northeast Asia. “If these three pillars move forward together, we can build a new peace order across Northeast Asia,” he said.
After his address, Chung met separately with Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh and President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. He arrived in Mongolia on Wednesday and is scheduled to return Friday. The trip was made at the invitation of the Mongolian government.