The Seoul Provincial Assembly of NUAC (vice-chairperson: Lee Jung-geun) held the Conference for Drawing Empathy for National Unification last March 13 at Grand Hilton Hotel. Lim Kyeong-ha, Secretary of the Assembly and head of the Seoul Yangcheon-gu Municipal Chapter, presided over the conference, which was attended by 800 council members and Seoul citizens. Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson of NUAC, and Prof. Emeritus Gwon Yeong-min of Seoul National Univ. gave special lectures.

• Building the foundation of the era of unification requires the people to have one mind. We should spearhead the building of the foundation with harmony, communication, and mutual trust, said Lee Jung-geun, vice-chairperson of the Seoul Assembly, in his opening speech.

• In his speech titled Let's Open the Era of Unification Bonanza, Hyun expressed appreciation over the voluntary service and cooperation of the council members of the Seoul Assembly for the national unification movement.
  He reminded the attendees of what President Park said during the NUAC reports to the president last Monday: Preparing for national unification and solving inter-Korean issues with clear principle and belief were made possible by the support and trust of the people. Amid such support and trust, NUAC and its members played a pivotal role.

Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson of NUAC showed a night view photo of the Korean peninsula filmed by one of the observatories of NASA. 120,000㎢ of the land in North Korea disappeared in the photo, and our compatriots there have been leading the most difficult lives in darkness. We should prepare ourselves so that our countrymen in the North can share freedom and prosperity with us as soon as possible, he stressed.

He added that Gaeseong Industrial Complex resumed normal operations amid the difficult situation between the South and the North, such as the UN sanctions against the North, third nuclear test, closing of the industrial complex, nullification of ceasefire agreement, and threat of nuclear attacks on Seoul and Washington by the North. Meanwhile, with the reunion of separated families taking place at Geumgangsan Mountain while the US and Korea were holding joint military exercise, Key Resolve was underway. It was possible because we made the Pyeongyang regime recognize that the Republic of Korea would not be shaken by the threat of North Korea. Many experts believe that the Korean Peninsula Trust-Building Process initiated by President Park Geun-hye has started to work properly.

Park's administration proposed building the foundation for peaceful unification as one of the four principal keynotes of the country, and positive support for he Korean Peninsula Trust-Building Process was drawn from the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee through more than two summit meetings with them. Now, even China and Russia support or at least do not oppose the idea that the unification of the Korean peninsula should be led by South Korea. The current international view regarding the unification of the Korean peninsula is more favorable than ever for us , Hyun continued, analyzing the current situation.

Hyun explained what President Park said about National unification is bonanza last Jan. 6 at the press conference. He emphasized that unification cannot be achieved without passion and preparation by all the people.

He introduced several cases of unification becoming a real jackpot. One of them, the reports of Goldman Sachs on the unification of Korean peninsula, claimed that a unified Korea could rank among the world's top 3 economic powers within 3 decades of the unification if the natural resources and labor force of North Korea were combined with the capital and technology of South Korea, bringing forth synergy effects.

At least 3% of the GDP of South Korea has been spent on national defense, but 1% of GDP will be enough when national unification is achieved, saving as much as 2% of the total GDP. Moreover, many youngsters of Korea will be able to do whatever they want without worrying about going to the military barracks for compulsory military service because the military forces required for a unified Korea would only be 150,000 ~ 300,000. All of these are the great benefits we can expect from national unification.

Hyun also dispelled concerns over the expenses after unification. Food to feed all the North Korean people would cost only about US$150 million, and South Korea is fully capable to support them to solve the current food shortage problem. According to him, investment in the social overhead capital of North Korea is not filling a bottomless vessel but will be an artery for the industrial development of Korea. He also quoted Soros, a world-renowned investor who said that he would invest all of his wealth in the construction of SOC of North Korea if the two Koreas would be unified.

Finally, Hyun reiterated that the Korean peninsula looks like an island at night on the photo. The land of North Korea should be lighted like the South, and it is what unification is targeting, he says. The day when the dark land of North Korea is lighted is the day the lamps of the East are lighted, as described by Rabindranath Tagore, the great poet of India. He asked the attendees to participate more positively in the unification movement and their roles. Prof. Emeritus Gwon Yeong-min of Seoul National Univ. (Chief of the NUAC Standing Committee of Culture, Arts, and Sports) gave a special lecture on the Culture of South and North Korea: What are the problems? to suggest how the homogeneity between the South and the North can be recovered.

President Park's words of unification bonanza could provide an opportunity for converting the thinking on national unification, and some people are suggesting the approach to unification with more positive methods, particularly the exchange and integration of culture and arts as a breakthrough of unification. Still, recognition on the concept of culture of the North Korean people is very much different from that of South Koreans. Fundamental and heterogeneous phenomena are exposed in the areas of culture and arts, Prof. Kwon said.

He added that culture, unlike politics, economy, and military, is not to be unified but combined, and that it changes and develops on the axis of diversity at all times. If such characteristics of culture and arts are neglected, serious problems may arise in the North and the South.

He helped the attendees understand the culture and arts issue between the two Koreas, sharing his own past experiences. He introduced a previous attempt to make the words and letters of the South and the North compatible, to no avail, due to the different recognition on culture between the two parties.

According to Prof. Kwon, it is not easy to suggest cultural exchange first until a frame of possibility is prepared to induce new direction of attitude, method, and interest in their living with firm recognition of North Korean culture. Since we are a single tribe, and we share the same language as a ground of culture, cultural exchange between the two Koreas can be visualized if we start approaching the elements for securing homogeneous ground first, he says. He cited as an example the establishment of a cultural exchange center at the Demilitarized Zone Pyeonghwa Park and publishing of a Korean Dictionary describing the words of the South and the North at the same time.

The ground to open the era of the unification bonanza can be settled in the areas of culture and arts. The culture and arts of the two Koreas can be brought into the homogeneous frame of walking hand-in-hand, he ended.

All the attendees were immersed in lectures for two hours without coffee break. They empathized with the unification policy and recognized the need to participate in the preparation for national unification, and they are expected to diffuse it to their neighbors to accomplish the unification bonanza.