Korea Friendship
The KF Korea Workshop is hosted by the Korea Foundation and organized by the East Asia Institute to promote and share understanding of Korean social, political, and economic issues among international residents in Korea.
As the first part of the 2018 KF Korea Workshop, Mr. Ko Young-hwan, former vice president of the Institute for National Security Strategy and former North Korean diplomat, gave a lecture on inter-Korean relations and peace on the Korean Peninsula. Mr. Ko defected to South Korea in 1991 after serving as French interpreter for Kim Il Sung and manager in charge of African countries for the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During his lecture, Mr. Ko explained the changes in the political system and economic situation in North Korea, and shared his views on denuclearization and unification issues. He called the “reign of terror” the most important feature of North Korea's political system. The term "reign of terror" refers to a political strategy that instills fear in the public and party leaders in order to maintain the regime, and was established following the execution of Jang Song-thaek ordered by Kim Jong Un when he took power.
He also discussed the role that North Korea’s current core economic strategy, the Byungjin line, plays in North Korean policy. This strategy commands ‘the simultaneous development of nuclear weapons and the economy’ and calls for North Korea to develop their national power through nuclear armament as well as economic development. Mr. Ko also explained that the nuclear weapons created by the policy threaten the military balance between North and South Korea.
Mr. Ko’s insights were not limited to security issues. He also talked about major changes in North Korean society including marketization and Hallyu. The rapidly expanding Chosun Market around the North Korean city is playing a key role in the country's economic growth, and Hallyu (the South Korean cultural wave) has also caught on in Pyongyang, having a strong influence on the everyday lives of the North Korean people.
Finally, Mr. Ko wrapped up his talk by addressing the issues of denuclearization and unification. Although many experts are skeptical about the North's denuclearization, he argued that the government should continue to try to hold Inter-Korean dialogues. Mr. Ko holds out hope that if the North is able to raise its economic status to a certain level through its opening and reform policy, unification could be a great economic success. A unified Korea under these conditions could produce ‘the 3rd Miracle on the Han River’.
| Dates and Times | Lecture serie |
| 7/10 (TUE) 19:00-21:00 |
Lecture 1 North-South Relations and Peace on the Korean Peninsula KO Young Hwan,Former Vice President of INSS |
| 7/12 (THU) 19:00-21:00 |
Lecture 2 A New Southern Policy: ASEAN as New Partner in Korean Diplomacy LEEJaehyon,Senior Research Fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies |
| 7/17 (TUE) 19:00-21:00 |
Lecture 3 Korean Diplomacy in the Era of Peace on the Korean Peninsula BAE Jong Yeun,Professor at Yonsei University |
| 7/14 (SAT) 13:00-18:00 |
Field Trip War Memorial of Korea |
| 7/21 (SAT) ~22 |
Workshop Visit to the DMZ |
