At a ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of German reunification, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young reaffirmed his resolve to improve relations between the two Koreas through a “de facto peaceful two-state solution.” 

According to Seoul’s unification ministry on Saturday, Chung, who represented the South Korean government at the event in Saarbrücken in Germany’s Saarland state, sought Berlin’s support and cooperation for the administration’s policies on North Korea and unification.

Meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, other government officials and members of parliament, Chung said the development of bilateral ties between East and West Germany, based on a policy change toward mutual recognition, offers a timely and important lesson for the Korean Peninsula.

The minister pledged to seek a “de facto peaceful two-state solution” to overcome inter-Korean hostility and move forward toward peace.

Chung also visited Brussels earlier in the week, where he met with European External Action Service Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs Olof Skoog and with an EU delegation on peninsula issues.