South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said it is difficult to talk about unification with North Korea at the moment as Pyongyang could misunderstand Seoul to be seeking “unification by absorption.”

Speaking at his first formal press conference to mark 30 days in office, Lee largely avoided addressing whether South Korea should pursue unification following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s abandonment of that goal in Dec. 2023.

“Our Constitution says, ‘We pursue peaceful unification,’ not unification by absorption. Who would want to be absorbed? That would bring enormous sacrifice and conflict,” he said.

“If possible, we must acknowledge the other’s