Seoul released a report Monday that for the first time recognized the “de facto two states” of the peninsula, signaling a tonal shift from the previous administration’s characterization of the Koreas.

Unveiled by the Unification Ministry, the 2026 Unification White Paper states that Seoul seeks to pursue “unification while building a relationship of peaceful coexistence,” due to the “reality that the South and North exist as de facto two states.”

The ministry’s first white paper under the Lee Jae Myung administration also listed shared economic growth and a peninsula free of war and nuclear weapons as its main goal. The