Date: Monday, October 17, 2022
Time: 10:30-10:33 A.M.

1. Unification Minister to meet families of detained citizens in North Korea

As you may know, citizens of the Republic of Korea have been detained in North Korea since 2013.

On October 21, Unification Minister Kwon Youngse will meet with the families of two of the detained citizens to offer words of condolences and explain the Government's commitment to resolving the detainee issue.

This is the first time the Unification Minister meets with the family of a North Korea detainee. The Government has maintained that the repatriation of our people detained in North Korea must be addressed as it is the Government's basic duty of 'protecting its people'.

Through various channels such as family interviews, inter-Korean talks and cooperation with the international community, the Ministry will continue to make efforts to fundamentally solve the detainee issues including ascertaining the life or death of the detainees, visits, and release and repatriation.

2. Q&A

Q. China is holding the 20th Congress of the Communist Party from this week, and there are several predictions that North Korea will stop provocations for a while at such a political event. What is the Ministry’s take on this?

A. I understand the question refers to any possibility of North Korea’s additional provocation. The Unification Ministry is closely monitoring the North’s developments and preparing for all possibilities while closely cooperating with relevant agencies.