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June 22 (Asia Today) — Former South Korean unification ministers criticized President Lee Jae Myung’s North Korea policy Monday, arguing that his national security team is continuing some of the previous administration’s hard-line positions.

Chung Se-hyun, who served as unification minister under President Kim Dae-jung, delivered the criticism at the 2026 International Korean Peninsula Forum organized by the Unification Ministry in Seoul.

The forum was held under the theme “Peaceful Coexistence on the Korean Peninsula Built Together With Civil Society.”

Chung criticized a joint statement issued by South Korea and the European Union that condemned North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its military cooperation with Russia.

“The Lee Jae Myung administration’s view of North Korea has returned to where the Yoon Suk Yeol administration stood in its final years,” Chung said.

He described the joint statement as “pouring concrete over a wall where we were trying to make even a pinhole” for progress in inter-Korean relations.

Chung accused Lee’s national security aides of steering the administration away from engagement.

“President Lee followed what his advisers wrote for him and ended up returning to a relationship of permanent hostility with North Korea,” Chung said. “Civil society must hold the president’s foreign and security policy advisers accountable.”

The former minister identified joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises, Seoul’s participation as a co-sponsor of a United Nations resolution on North Korean human rights and the South Korea-EU statement as policy mistakes.

“I believe the Lee government’s National Security Office is following the Yoon administration’s position on North Korea,” Chung said.

Chung is generally associated with a policy faction that favors resolving inter-Korean issues primarily through dialogue led by the two Koreas.

He has frequently criticized officials who place greater emphasis on the South Korea-U.S. alliance, multilateral diplomacy and international pressure in addressing North Korea’s nuclear program.

His recent criticism has included Wi Sung-lac, Lee’s national security adviser, who is viewed as a leading advocate of alliance-centered diplomacy.

The South Korea-EU statement issued during Lee’s June 10 summit in Brussels condemned North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and called for the complete denuclearization of North Korea in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions.

It also condemned North Korea’s military cooperation with Russia.

Lee Jae-joung, who served as unification minister under President Roh Moo-hyun, also participated in Monday’s discussion.

Lee said the government should avoid placing North Korea’s complete denuclearization at the forefront of its peace policy.

“It would be more realistic to recognize the current situation and establish nuclear freezing and reduction as the basic direction of our policy,” Lee said.

He also called for a structural and institutional system that would give the Unification Ministry a central coordinating role in policies involving peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, meanwhile, said a recent social media post by U.S. President Donald Trump could indicate the possible revival of personal diplomacy between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump posted a photograph showing himself walking with Kim during their 2018 summit in Singapore without providing a caption.

The unification minister cited an interpretation offered by Lee Jung-chul, a professor at Seoul National University, who suggested that Kim may have sent Trump a letter for the U.S. president’s birthday and that the photograph could have been Trump’s response.

“I found that interpretation impressive and plausible,” Chung Dong-young said.

No public evidence has confirmed that Kim recently sent Trump a letter.

Trump and Kim met three times during Trump’s first term, but nuclear negotiations stalled after their February 2019 summit in Hanoi ended without an agreement.

South Korea’s government has said its policy seeks peaceful coexistence and renewed dialogue with North Korea while maintaining international cooperation over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260622010007522

SACRAMENTO — Human rights advocates on Tuesday rallied outside the state Capitol to push back on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget plan to reduce state-sponsored healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants.

“We are here to demand a budget that protects California’s values,” said Kiran Savage-Sangwan, executive director of California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. “We are fighting for a budget that rejects Medi-Cal cuts, seeks new revenues and strengthens our safety net reserve to keep families whole.”

Newsom last week unveiled his revised budget proposal, which would further move away from his previous policy to provide free healthcare coverage to all low-income undocumented immigrants.

His proposal would require monthly premiums for undocumented immigrants receiving coverage from Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program. It would also continue to block new adult applications, a cutback imposed last year.

The governor has explained that his original policy was more costly than expected and that difficult decisions must be made as the state could soon face an economic downturn.

Speakers at Tuesday’s rally argued this was unacceptable.

The cuts would force many immigrants to choose between putting food on the table or visiting a doctor, said Savage-Sangwan. She said certain groups, including refugees, older adults and those with disabilities, would be left especially vulnerable.

“These are the kinds of actions we would expect from a federal government that scapegoats immigrants and sends violent ICE forces to terrorize our community,” she said. “Instead, these proposals were made by our own governor in a state that claims to value immigrant communities. We know California is better than this.”

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the rally.

The event drew about 100 attendees, including Anahi Araiza, a policy researcher with Imperial Valley Equity and Justice. She told The Times that many immigrants in their community struggle to afford medical care and subsequently put off doctor visits.

“They wait until it’s an absolute emergency,” she said. “We’ve heard stories where people delay care and then get diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.”

The event was supported by several organizations, including California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, Survivors of Torture International, Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action, Health4All Coalition, and Organizing Rooted in Abolition, Liberation and Empowerment.

One man carried a large sign with an image of the Virgin Mary that read “Safety Net For All.” Other marchers donned flowing monarch butterfly wings. The orange-and-black insect became a symbol for the pro-migrant movement years ago because it travels long distances between Mexico and the United States.

Meanwhile, another group gathered outside the Capitol for a news conference to raise awareness about the instability caused by federal healthcare cuts.

Assemblymembers Patrick Ahrens (D-Sunnyvale), Robert Garcia (D-Rancho Cucamonga) and Tina S. McKinnor (D-Hawthorne) joined several doctors and nurses to call for a $500-million state investment into public hospitals.

“Public hospitals are the backbone of our healthcare system,” Ahrens said. “It is estimated that federal cuts will strip over $3 billion a year from the California public hospital system — we cannot balance our budget on the backs of the most vulnerable Californians.”

The Republican-backed “Big Beautiful Bill” signed by President Trump last year shifted federal funding away from safety-net programs and toward tax cuts and immigration enforcement. During a legislative hearing this year, healthcare professionals warned state lawmakers the cuts would harm all patients, including those with private insurance.