To the Honorable Council Members of the National Unification Advisory Council

• The General Assembly of the 16th National Unification Advisory Council was held successfully on August 28, attended by the Chairperson of our Council, President Park.
  
  The General Assembly was very meaningful as an opportunity for the advisory groups to share the goal and direction of the 16th National Unification Advisory Council and strengthen the will and determination for opening the era of unification with our own hands, going beyond division and confrontation between South and North.
  I would like to convey my sincere appreciate to the members from all over the world for attending the conference.
  
  According to President Park, the unification we are pursuing should be a peaceful one so that all Korean people living in this peninsula can keep their dignity while enjoying freedom, human rights, and economic and cultural prosperity.
  She emphasized that national unification should not only make South and North one but also serve as a starting point of the opening of the Korean peninsula to make contributions to world peace and happiness of human beings.
  To open a new era of real peace in the peninsula, North Korea should abandon its nuclear weapons immediately and pursue the path of coexistence through which South and North can develop together.
  
  Still, it will not be easy at all. Our National Unification Advisory Council should back the government in maintaining the principle of unification patiently based on the support of the people and accumulate immense trust and realize large-scale unification from little things.
  
  There should be neither conflict nor division among political sectors, generations, and classes as far as unification and policy regarding the North are concerned.
  
  All the members of our Council are determined and passionate with regard to the unification of our fatherland. I hope you will exert your best efforts to realize the integration of our society by resolving internal conflict, which is a stumbling block in unifying the people, and shorten the time to open the era of national unification.
  Only careful preparation for unification can guarantee a happy future for the Korean Peninsula. The great challenge of the National Unification Advisory Council should start together with the people. The valuable voice of the people should be collected as it is; it will then be recommended to the President to reflect such voice on the policy regarding the North.
  
  Furthermore, we should exert our best efforts in the areas of education on unification and history to enable the young generation to recognize the history of independence and establishment of our country as achieved by the blood and tears of our forefathers. Such activities of ours can be the shortcut to unification via "Building a Peaceful Unification Foundation" as one of the Four Fundamental National Policies.
  
  The 16th National Unification Advisory Council has just started. I hope all of you will do -- for the next two years -- what you pledged to do during the General Assembly, which is to perform your missions faithfully, “honoring the desire of the people for the peaceful unification of our fatherland."
  Let us open the era of unification with trust and integrity wherein 80 million people can enjoy happiness.
  I wish all of you and your families good health and happiness.
  Thank you.
  

  August 30, 2013
  Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson
  National Unification Advisory Council