Governor of North Korean province in US to promote Yoon’s unification vision

Ji Seong-ho, the South Korean governor of the North Korean province of North Hamgyong Province, arrives at the airport in Incheon for his US trip on Sunday. (courtesy of Ji)

Ji Seong-ho, the governor of North Hamgyong Province, is on a trip to Washington to discuss President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “doctrine” on Korean reunification with US government officials, senators and think tanks.

The North Korean defector and former lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party told The Korea Herald on Monday that over his trip he is scheduled to meet with Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty; Amb. Julie Turner, special envoy on North Korean human rights; and shadow Sen. Paul Strauss of the Democratic Party.

According to Ji, he is also due to visit the International Republican Institute, a Republican Party-based nonprofit organization, and the Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank.

He said in his planned meetings and visits in the US, he would introduce the Yoon administration’s vision for a free and unified Korea as “ultimately a way of advancing shared values such as open and fair elections and democratic governance.”

“As governor, I see it as my duty to continue to work for the peaceful reunification of Korea by promoting our government’s strategy and efforts for bridging the two Koreas and support for North Korean defectors,” he said.

Ji left for the US on Sunday and is slated to stay until Friday.

Yoon’s doctrine on Korean reunification, unveiled by the president on Aug. 15 Liberation Day, entails eliciting a change from within North Korea by enlightening the North Korean people about freedom and democracy.

Ji, who finished his term as a member of the National Assembly in May, was appointed governor of the North Korean province last month.

South Korea has public offices that govern regions north of the border to honor the Constitution that regards all of the Korean Peninsula as South Korean territory.

By Kim Arin(arin@heraldcorp.com)