Over 60 ROK civic organizations have welcomed the new unification minister’s decision to fully allow private-sector engagement with North Korea, emphasizing the need to push forward cooperation on projects ranging from family unions to fighting climate change.

The statement comes after unification minister Chung Dong-young told reporters on Monday that Seoul will end the system that effectively required nongovernmental organizations to get government approval to contact DPRK counterparts. 

“Minister Chung Dong-young’s policy is a significant turning point that opens a new paradigm in inter-Korean relations, going beyond a simple institutional improvement,” the groups affiliated with the NGO Council for Inter-Korea