As North Korea engages in discussions about its domestic and foreign policy during its 9th Party Congress, officials from South Korea have made repeated calls for the North to re-enter dialogue. Jeong Yeon-du, South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, emphasized during a high-level meeting at the Geneva Disarmament Conference that South Korea would work closely with the international community to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and enduring peace. He urged North Korea to comply with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and United Nations Security Council resolutions, promoting a step-by-step approach to denuclearization through dialogue and negotiations.

In his remarks, Jeong expressed concern over military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, labeling such actions as seriously damaging to international peace and security, and called for its immediate cessation. He also diagnosed the current international security environment as facing critical challenges for arms control and non-proliferation, highlighting the worrying increase in nuclear threats and the gap in arms control among nuclear-armed states. He urged nuclear powers to engage in dialogue that enhances transparency and builds mutual trust.

Furthermore, Jeong will be visiting Washington from the 24th to the 27th to meet with various officials from the U.S. administration and academic experts, marking his first visit since taking office as the head of the Foreign Affairs Strategy Office at the end of last year. The South Korean government conveyed that during his visit, he plans to share assessments on the current situation on the Korean Peninsula with U.S. officials and exchange views based on the joint fact sheet from the recent South Korea-U.S. summit.