2018 Inter-Korean Summit Pyeongyang

The Berlin Initiative for peace on the Korean Peninsula

"We already know the road that leads to a peaceful Korean Peninsula.
It is a return to the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration of 2000 and the October 4 Declaration of 2007."

On July 6, 2017, President Moon Jae-in was invited by the Körber Foundation to speak at the Altes Stadhaus, Berlin’s Old City Hall. In his speech, he announced the Berlin Initiative, a new way forward that would resume dialogue between the two Koreas and start an inter-Korean effort to establish a regime of peace on the Korean Peninsula.

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Policies to bring a permanent peace to the Korean Peninsula

Only peace

“Unification is a process where both sides seek coexistence and co-prosperity and restore a sense of national community. When peace is established, unification will be realized naturally someday through an agreement between the South and the North. What my administration and I would like to realize is only peace.”

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula

“My Administration, in cooperation with the international community, will work toward a comprehensive solution to the current issues on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, including the complete dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program and establishment of a peace regime, the easing of North Korea’s security and economic concerns, and an improvement in North Korea-U.S. and North Korea-Japan relations.”

Establishing a permanent peace structure

“In order to establish a permanent peace structure on the Korean Peninsula, we need to conclude a peace treaty with the participation of relevant countries and formally end the war.”

Fourth, a new economic map on the Korean Peninsula

“The severed inter-Korean railway will be connected again. A train departing from Busan and Mokpo will run through Pyongyang and Beijing and head toward Russia and Europe… South and North Korea will prosper together as a bridge connecting the Asian mainland and the Pacific. The South and the North need only to implement the October 4 Declaration together.”

Pursuing non-political exchanges

“Among the separated family members who have applied to the Korean government to meet their families in the North, only around 60,000 are still alive and their average age is 81. The situation in North Korea will likely be the same. We need to let them meet their families while they are still alive. This is a pressing humanitarian issue that needs to be addressed before any political considerations.”

Four steps
to prepare for
peace on the Korean Peninsula

First, let us solve the pressing humanitarian issue.

"Before more members of separated families leave us, we must wipe their tears."

Second, let us make the PyeongChang Winter Olympics an “Olympics of Peace” with the participation of the North.

"When athletes from South and North Korea, and from the rest of the world, sweat and compete against each other, offer a hand to fellow athletes who have fallen down and embrace each other, the world will witness peace through the Olympic games."

Third, let us mutually halt acts of hostility around the Military Demarcation Line

"If the two Koreas, starting on this day, stop all acts of hostility that escalate military tension at the MDL, it would provide a meaningful opportunity it would provide a meaningful opportunity to ease tensions between the two Koreas. "

Fourth, inter-Korean dialogue is necessary for peace on the Korean Peninsula and South-North cooperation.

"I am ready to meet with Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea at any time at any place, if the conditions are met and if it will provide an opportunity to ease the tension and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula."

Respected German citizens, my fellow Koreans, Dr. Thomas Paulsen, executive board member of the Körber Foundation, Mr. Hans Modrow, former Prime Minister of East Germany, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, First of all, I would like to express my endless respect for Germany and the German people for overcoming the Cold War and national division, accomplishing unification, and with this strength, leading the integration of Europe and international peace.

I would also like to extend my appreciation to the federal government of Germany and the Körber Foundation for arranging this event today. Moreover, I extend my deepest condolences and sympathy to the bereaved family and the German people for the passing of Helmut Kohl, former Chancellor of Germany. The Republic of Korea will remember Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s legacy of leading the unification of Germany and European integration through active and enthusiastic diplomacy despite the challenging environment of the Cold War.

Distinguished guests from home and abroad, Berlin is the very place where 17 years ago President Kim Dae-jung of the Republic of Korea made the Berlin Declaration, which laid the foundation for reconciliation and cooperation between South and North Korea. Moreover, the Altes Stadthaus is a historic site where the German unification treaty was negotiated. Today, at the very place where the lessons of Berlin still linger, I would like to outline the peace initiative of the new Korean government for the Korean Peninsula.

The Körber Foundation is a nonprofit organization established by German entrepreneur and initiator Kurt A. Körber in 1959. With a firm belief that, "Social change needs dialogue and understanding," it hosts international forums and expert lectures, and provides a platform for discussion regarding global issues. Many heads of state deliver messages related to their policy initiatives in their speeches at the Körber Foundation.