The Unification Policy Standing Committee was convened on Feb. 23 at the Secretariat office of NUAC to discuss future policies against North Korea amid a changing situation wherein North Korea conducts nuclear experiments and launches long-range missiles, along with a series of provocations.

Chief Kim Young-soo (Professor of Sogang University) presided over the meeting. Professor Jeon Kyeong-man of Sehan University (former Head of the Institute for Unification Education) gave a presentation, with all members debating on the policies against North Korea and the direction we should take.

In his presentation titled "Policies Against North Korea in Accordance with the Change in Unification Environment," Professor Jeon assessed the environment. According to him, since the North is armed with nuclear weapons and missiles, the Kim Jong-un administration is acting as a game changer, violating agreements and communications. Moreover, the intensification of confrontation and distrust, New Cold War in Northeast politics, and dispersion of the internal voice for unification have changed things, he said.

Professor Jeon argued that our policies against North Korea should take practical and strong measures unlike the original policies. “South Korea should take the lead in addressing the problems in the Korean peninsula and plan policies to solve nuclear issues. Furthermore, as a mid-and long-term national strategy, policies against North Korea should be coordinated with unification policies,” he explained.

According to him, we need to adjust the priority of the “Korean Peninsula Trust Process” and set principles to utilize both suppression and communication, which differ by situation, to lead security and unification confidently. “Moreover, we need to clarify our determined will through a special announcement, ‘Building Trust and Peace in the Korean Peninsula,’ before North Korea’s 7th Party Congress (scheduled in May) or on the 8.15 National Liberation Day,” he added.

Suggested during the comprehensive debate were changing the target of policies from the government of North Korea to the people, inducing change, focusing diplomatic power on UN-centered actions to denounce the North, maintaining consistency and sustainability in the unification policies, requesting the Chinese government to punish harshly illegal trading in the China-North Korea border and carry out an objective evaluation on the North Korean government, and starting policies accordingly.