The Lee Jae Myung administration is actively allowing private organizations to restart civilian communications with North Korea after they came to a virtual standstill under the Yoon Suk Yeol government.

An official from the Ministry of Unification told KBS on Wednesday that a decision was made to begin reviewing the private sector’s requests for contact with North Koreans through consultations with related agencies in the belief that it is necessary to restore communication channels with the North at the nongovernmental level.

The ministry said it accepted two requests for contact with North Korea on humanitarian aid last week, marking the first such requests from private aid groups since the devastating floods that hit the North in August last year.

The official said one of the reasons the requests were accepted was to create an atmosphere of peace on the peninsula through dialogue and cooperation.
 
The ministry has since accepted several requests for contact.
 
Under former President Yoon, there had been a near-total freeze on civilian communication between the two Koreas as the government took issue with North Korea’s provocations.

But since President Lee took office, the policy has changed in line with his pledges to restore inter-Korean relations.