South Korea, German official discuss possibility of unified Korea

Seoul, May 3 (IANS) Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho, on Friday, met with a senior German official and discussed Berlin's unification experience and the possibility of a unified Korea, Seoul's Unification Ministry said.

Kim met with Carsten Schneider, the minister of state for East Germany and equivalent living conditions, at his office, as Seoul is working on drawing up a new unification vision amid North Korea's pledge not to seek unification with South Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim asked for Berlin's cooperation and support for South Korea's "unwavering" commitment to pursuing a peaceful unification of the two Koreas based on liberal democracy, according to the Unification Ministry.

Schneider also voiced the need to strengthen solidarity between Seoul and Berlin over the issue and shared South Korea's unification vision, it added.

The meeting came as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has defined inter-Korean relations as those between "two countries hostile to each other" and vowed not to seek reconciliation and unification with South Korea.

Schneider was visiting South Korea to attend a meeting of the Korea-Germany Unification Advisory Committee held in the southeastern port city of Busan from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The two nations launched the unification advisory committee in 2011 to share Germany's unification experience and have held an annual meeting since then. Vice Unification Minister Moon Seoung-hyun and Schneider co-chair the committee.

Later in the day, Schneider told reporters that South Korea could seize an unexpected opportunity only when it does not give up the goal of unification.

"We did not know in the spring of 1989 that the Berlin Wall would collapse in November of that year. If South Korea wants to catch such a chance (for unification), it should not lose the goal of unification while keeping close tabs on North Korean people's situations," he said.