South Korea’s newly appointed vice unification minister, Kim Nam-jung, vowed Monday to restore inter-Korean communication lines and rebuild trust with Pyongyang gradually, even as North Korea openly rejects reunification — a sign of Seoul’s renewed bid to thaw frozen ties. 

In his inauguration speech, Kim called for small but concrete actions to ease tensions and reaffirmed the Lee Jae-myung administration’s commitment to dialogue over confrontation, signaling a course correction after years of strained cross-border ties and policy controversies.

“Even if the road ahead is long, we must not rush but calmly build trust between the South and the North, step