Based on recent speeches by top leaders, a profound and unbridgeable gulf between the two Koreas continues to define the peninsula.

The speeches of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at the United Nations General Assembly on September 23 and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un at the Supreme People’s Assembly on September 21 reveal a profound and unbridgeable gulf that continues to define the Korean Peninsula. Both leaders invoked the language of peace, but their visions proved not only divergent but fundamentally irreconcilable.

Lee Jae-myung’s Vision: END as a Pathway

Lee’s remarks in New York projected cautious optimism and principled pragmatism. He presented what he called “a new journey toward a Korean Peninsula of peaceful coexistence and joint prosperity.” This framework was grounded in three assurances meant to reassure Pyongyang: “The Republic of Korea will respect the other side’s system, will not pursue any form of absorption-based unification, and has no intention of hostile acts.”

The initiative’s essence was captured in the acronym END: Exchange, Normalization, Denuclearization. According to Lee, lasting peace would require building trust step by step. On the nuclear issue, he laid out a phased roadmap: “suspension of nuclear and missile capability advancement,” then nuclear reduction, and finally dismantlement.

To give the plan credibility, Lee pledged external support: “We will actively supp