2016 10th Colloquium on “Unification Diplomacy: Toward a New Direction and Implementation Strategy"
The Sejong Institute held its 10th Colloquium this year on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, inviting Professor Ihn-Hwi Park from Ewha Womans University for discussion on the topic of “Unification Diplomacy: Toward a New Direction and Implementation Strategy.”
During his presentation, Professor Park talked about (a) the need for unification diplomacy amid a changing international environment, (b) the new direction and objectives of unification diplomacy, (c) future strategies, and (d) various issues for policy consideration. Professor Park argued that unification diplomacy has thus far (a) inadequately responded to various dilemmas concerning North Korea, (b) tended to center around political leaders and government officials, and (c) mostly dealt with North Korea’s nuclear proliferation and risk-management problems.
In order to make up for the current shortcomings, Professor Park argued that future unification diplomacy should (a) clearly distinguish between the “U.S.-China game” and the “South-North Korea game” on the issues concerning the Korean peninsula, (b) develop effective and tailor-made policy and strategy, (c) voice the fallacy of North Korea’s position in the international society that its desire to become a nuclear power is a survival mechanism amid the U.S. threat, (d) find new channels and sources globally that can facilitate unification policy, and (e) move to increase Korea’s leverage internationally.
The participants including Chairman Joon-woo Park, President Chang Soo Jin, and all other research fellows here at the institute engaged in an active discussion on a wide array of topics including the necessity of unification diplomacy, South Korea’s leverage and sovereignty amid great power politics, appropriate strategy and policy for nuclear non-proliferation and maintenance of peace on the Korean peninsula, and the issue of whether South Korea’s policy toward the North has been a failure.