The Sejong Institute judged that the "Korean Peninsula Peace Transition," which began in 2018, needed strategic guidance to establish a permanent peace system on the land so that war threats, especially nuclear war threats, would not recur again as we experienced in 2017. If we can break away from "hostility and war" that worsened over the past 76 years and achieve a major shift to "reconciliation and peace," the central value of our society will shift from "war" to "peace."

As our thoughts, values, and goals change to peace-centered, not only human relations, but also laws, systems, and government, peace policies will be established in our society. In addition, international politics on the Korean Peninsula will shift to peace, focusing not on hostility and war, but on the concept, values, and goals of ending the Korean War, establishing a peace regime, denuclearizing, and establishing diplomatic relations. This book is designed to meet the needs and demands of such a "peaceful transition on the Korean Peninsula."

The five core goals of peace on the Korean Peninsula are to establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, peacefully coexist and peacefully reunify the two Koreas, strengthen the ROK-U.S. alliance cooperation to solve problems, and establish new North American relations.

Finally, if you look at the "10 core issues" that need to be resolved for the sake of peace on the Korean Peninsula and its continuation, you can see the following. First, which country has the initiative to transform the Korean Peninsula peacefully? How can we create the initiative of cooperation (inclusion and persuasion)? Second, is peaceful coexistence possible in North Korea-U.S. relations? Is it possible to establish a new relationship with North Korea under peaceful coexistence? Third, is denuclearization the top priority in the U.S. policy toward North Korea? Will the U.S. abolish its hostile policy toward North Korea, including joint military exercises with the U.S. and sanctions against North Korea? "Will North Korea denuclearize as promised? Fourth, how should the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula be carried out in parallel, linked, or sequential order? Fifth, how to make North Korea's policy toward South Korea an independent variable, not a dependent variable of its policy toward the U.S. Sixth, how to resolve conflicts and conflicts between Korea and the U.S. over independence (national cooperation) and internationality (alliance cooperation) on the Korean Peninsula and North Korea policy? Seventh, how can Korea and the U.S. resolve conflicts and conflicts over the asymmetry of the alliance and the rational equality of the alliance? Eighth, when should the U.S. return wartime operational control of the Korean military? Ninth, how to resolve tensions and contradictions between the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula (peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas) and peaceful reunification of the two Koreas? Tenth, can the U.S.-China hegemony race and the new Cold War structure continue to change peacefully on the Korean Peninsula? How will the Great Peace Transformation be progressed and sustained?

Volume No: 2022-1

Issue Date: 2022.1.15.

Page: 399 pages