Foreign Affairs Outlook for 2022​

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Outlook for Inter-Korean Relations in 2022 

Choi Eun-ju 

(ej0717@sejong.org) 

Research Fellow, 

the Sejong Institute

​English Abstract 

2021 has been a year of stalemate in inter-Korean relations. The South Korean government has been trying to improve inter-Korean relations and restart the peace process on the Korean Peninsula, while North Korea has called for the withdrawal of double standards and hostile policies toward the North as a prerequisite for the possibility of improving inter-Korean relations. It is expected that it will continue to be difficult to improve inter-Korean relations in 2022 due to uncertainty over COVID-19, South Korea's political schedule, and North Korea's prerequisites to improve inter-Korean relations. However, if the South Korean government's current declaration of the end of the war bears fruit, it will provide an opportunity to change not only inter-Korean relations but also North Korea-U.S. relations.