South Korea is willing to provide COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea in order to help the country reopen its long-closed borders and resume diplomacy with the outside world, Seoul’s top foreign ministry official on DPRK affairs said Friday.

Speaking at a Jeju Forum discussion session, Noh Kyu-duk, the South Korean foreign ministry’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, stressed that diplomacy and dialogue are “indispensable” means for addressing the North Korean nuclear issue.

Noh vowed that South Korea is “willing to play a necessary role to facilitate the early resumption of dialogue with the DPRK,” stating