South Korea’s Yoon calls for unification, on holiday marking 1919 uprising against colonial Japan

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol lambasted North Korea Friday, for what he called its repressive rule and vowed to achieve a free, unified Korean Peninsula. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol spoke on March 1 Independence Movement Day, a holiday marking a 1919 Korean uprising against Japanese colonial rule. Yoon’s comments came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in January rejected the idea of peaceful unification and threatened to occupy with South in the event of war. In a speech marking Korea’s 1919 uprising against the Japanese colonial rule, Yoon said that “Unification is precisely what is needed to expand the universal values of freedom and human rights.”