Kim Chun-sik, head of the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) and a former Vice Minister of the Unification Ministry, expressed his intention to resign on the 4th.
Kim said in a phone call with The Chosun Ilbo that he found it uncomfortable to remain seated as the head of a state research institute that studies unification under a government that does not aim for unification and seeks to erase unification from government policy, explaining his reason for offering to resign.
Kim said he had not received pressure or a demand to resign from the Lee Jae-myung administration. Kim said, I judged there is nothing more I can do as head of the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) under the current administration, and I thought it would be better to step down from the post to uphold my convictions about liberal democracy and unification.
He added, It might be comfortable to sit and draw a salary doing nothing for the remainder of the term without clashing with the government's position, but I could not abandon my beliefs about unification.
Earlier, when Minister Chung Dong-young sought to change the ministry's name by removing unification from the Unification Ministry's title and floated a "peaceful two-state theory," Kim publicly criticized it as anti-unification and unconstitutional.
Kim was appointed head of the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) in July 2023 under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. His term runs through July 19, 2026. With Kim expressing his intent to step down before his term ends, the process to select a successor is expected to proceed.
Kim drafted the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration, the outcome of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. After placing first in the civil service exam, he volunteered for the Unification Ministry, then considered an undesirable posting, and later served as Vice Minister of the Unification Ministry under the Lee Myung-bak administration.