The unification ministry has said it looks forward to North Korea's positive response to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “bold” initiative laid out during his Liberation Day speech. 

When asked about possible working-level contact with North Korea on the support proposal, a ministry official said it is appropriate to first wait for a response from the North as the plan was announced directly by the president only a day earlier.

The official added the ministry will review whether to make specific proposals to Pyongyang after carefully monitoring inter-Korean relations and the political situation surrounding the Korean peninsula.

The official refrained from disclosing specific details on the new initiative, stating only that all six aspects of the president’s plan are substantial in size, requiring that numerous considerations be made.

Regarding criticism that the plan focuses only on economic assistance, the official said the initiative also entails political and military measures that have yet to be announced.

The president on Monday had pledged large-scale food supply programs, support for electricity generation and transmission infrastructure, agricultural production technology, as well as the modernization of ports, airports and health care should North Korea take steps to denuclearize.