Kang Chang-il, senior vice chair of the Presidential Committee on Peaceful Unification Policy, said on July 2 that he “deeply agrees” with a declaration issued by senior religious leaders titled “Declaration on Peaceful Coexistence and Mutual Respect on the Korean Peninsula.”
In a statement released the same day, Kang said he hopes the religious leaders’ call for mutual respect, dialogue, and peace “will bear fruit as peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula.”
Earlier in the day, the Council of Senior Religious Leaders in Korea held a press conference, emphasizing that “peace begins with respecting the other side’s name,” and urged that both Koreas refer to each other by their official state names in the interest of peace.
Kang said that inter-Korean relations are currently in a particularly serious state, adding that the breakdown of dialogue and the intensification of hostile relations would only lead to mutual destruction.
He stressed the need to restore trust as soon as possible and establish a system of peaceful coexistence, calling the transition from an armistice regime to a peace regime a historic task required by the current era.
As a first step, Kang argued, both sides should use each other’s official state names. “If North Korea refers to us as the Republic of Korea, we should refer to North Korea as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” he said.
He noted that official state names have already been used in inter-Korean agreements, including the 1991 Basic Agreement, and that both Koreas separately joined the United Nations as sovereign states, reflecting an established reality.
Kang added that efforts toward dialogue and cooperation should be pursued within a broader vision of peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula, guided by long-term historical perspectives on national community and peaceful unification.
He concluded by expressing respect for the religious leaders’ efforts to promote peace and their aspirations for peaceful unification, emphasizing the importance of wisdom rooted in the values of peace and life.