The presidential office has dismissed former President Moon Jae-in’s call for a complete review of the country’s discourse on unification and peace. 

A senior presidential official accompanying President Yoon Suk Yeol on a trip to the Czech Republic told reporters on Thursday that Moon’s approach to peace with the North is unrealistic. 

Saying the Moon government had wanted to declare a hasty end to the Korean War and persuade the United States that the peninsula had achieved peace, while neglecting the need for strong deterrence to protect South Korea from the North’s threats, the official called dialogue an inadequate solution. 

The official also criticized the way the previous government handled the controversy over the U.S. THAAD missile defense system, mentioning the lack of measures on civic groups that blocked its deployment for years. 

Responding to recent remarks from Moon’s former chief of staff Im Jong-seok, who proposed recognizing the two Koreas as separate nations, the official denounced the idea as unconstitutional.