South Korea cannot achieve peace with North Korea by waiting on “approval and clearance from the U.S.,” Seoul’s unification ministry said Tuesday, promoting the merits of unilateral action.

Speaking at a seminar in Seoul, Chung Dong-young recalled that the progressive Kim Dae-jung administration (1998-2003) went ahead with South Korean tours to North Korea’s Mount Kumgang despite U.S. suspicions about a DPRK nuclear facility at Geumchang-ri.