Seoul’s unification minister said North and South Korea function “in reality” as two separate states, stating that acknowledging this reality “does not mean accepting permanent division.”

Chung Dong-young’s remarks at a press conference on Thursday came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to enshrine in law that the two Koreas are separate states and said unification is impossible “unless one of them ceases to exist.”

“North and South are, in fact, two states — already two states, even in international legal terms,” the minister said.

Citing a surveyby Seoul National University, Chung noted that “more than