Building peace with North Korea will make South Korea a stronger nation amid intensifying great power competition, ROK President Moon Jae-in said in his final speech marking the country’s March 1 independence movement holiday.

In past speeches to mark the occasion, Moon has advocated various levels of inter-Korean cooperation to help build momentum toward reunification “by 2045.” But this year’s speech framed improving North-South relations as a way for South Korea to survive and thrive in a turbulent international order.

He also stressed that South Korea must continue to strengthen itself economically and militarily to prevent coercion from