[Education][5th Unification and Diplomacy Academy] Lecture 8

12 May 2017
Views 5809

 

On May 2, Mr. Duk-haeng Lee, spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification, delivered a lecture entitled "Role and Tasks for Unification and Diplomacy: The Ministry of Unification's International Tasks".

500+516+61000+30000=? What do you think these numbers mean?

These figures show the number of people who have been separated from their families due to the divided Korea. There are 500 South Korean Prisoners of War, 516 abductees, 61,000 survivors of separated families and 30,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea.

In order to relieve the pain that has come from the division of the two Koreas, the peninsula must be unified sooner rather than later. However, if unification occurs at a time when the two Koreas are not socially integrated it is possible that the unified Korea will be divided again. Thus, it is more important to try to achieve social integration between the North and the South. This can be done by understanding the North through North Korean defectors living in the South, changing the distorted perception of South Korea that North Korean people have and by planning a unified Korea together with the North and the South. Only if these efforts are made together, unification and social integration can be achieved on the Korean peninsula.

Next Monday, on May 15, Jung-Il Choi, the former South Korean Ambassador to Germany, will speak about "Germany's Unification Diplomacy and the Lessons to be Learnt".