The 2014 Joint Meeting of Vice-chairpersons and Chiefs of Municipal Chapters was held on Feb. 11 and 12 at Daejeon Yousung Hotel to prepare plans for building the foundation of the era of national unification.

A total of 210 vice-chairpersons of provincial assemblies and chiefs of municipal chapters attended the joint meeting to discuss the 2014 plans to be implemented to enhance the roles of senior members and improve national unification movements in their regions.

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  Park Seong-bae, Vice-chairperson of the Daejeon Assembly

  "What we can do for national unification is to suggest what we can do in our daily life and practice it. We should perform the roles given to us as senior members of the council and stay faithful in unification movements with firm belief until the Korean peninsula is unified," said Park Seong-bae, Vice-chairperson of the Daejeon Assembly, in his welcome remarks.

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  Park Chan-bong, Secretary General

  "Council members should lead the bonanza of the unification age and build the unification foundation and settlement of peace in the Korean peninsula with one mind through national consensus," said Park Chan-bong, Secretary General.

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  Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson

  "After President Park said, 'National unification is the jackpot,’ Korean people have been paying more attention. Council members of NUAC should make their best efforts to convey a sincere will of unification to the people and lay the cornerstone of unification to achieve peace in the Korean peninsula," said NUAC Executive Vice-chairperson Hyun Kyung-dae in his special lecture on "Change of Situation in Northeast Asia and Preparation for Unification."

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  Shin Eun-sook, Director of the Unification Policy Advisory Bureau

  Shin Eun-sook, Director of the Unification Policy Advisory Bureau, introduced the action plan of the 16th NUAC and subjects to be promoted in her report on the “2014 Major Business Plan.” She explained the enhancement of results of policy recommendation, concentration of unification ability of the people, grand consolidation of the people and North Korean refugees, fostering of future generation of unification, and reinforcement of cooperative basis of international societies and also suggested a model for the unification movement.

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  Lee Geum-soon, senior researcher of the Korea Institute for National Unification

  Lee Geum-soon, Senior Researcher of the Korea Institute for National Unification, explained the system for supporting the settlement of North Korean refugees and legal basis, including education for adapting to South Korean society, subsidy for settlement, settlement grant, and housing assistance.

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  Kim Jae-sook, Assistant Manager of the North Korean Refugees Foundation

  Kim Jae-sook, Assistant Manager of the North Korean Refugees Foundation, discussed the “Status of Employing North Korean Refugees and Support System.” She talked about the difficulties that they encounter while living in South Korean society and also explained the system to help them find jobs and government subsidy for employers who employ North Korean refugees.

Attendants were divided into 11 groups to discuss how to revitalize the "Preparing for Unification from One to Five" movement.

The attendants enjoyed a performance of "Crescendo," which consisted of 4 college students in Daejeon, to celebrate the holding of the workshop. All of them were invited to the dinner hosted by Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson of NUAC.

On the second day of the joint meeting, examples of successful activities of provincial assemblies and municipal chapters were introduced. Kim Ok-ho, Chairperson of the Daejeon Youth Committee, discussed the activities of college student unification clubs in the Daejeon area since 2011. Another successful example of municipal chapter was presented by Kang Seok-ho, Senior Vice-chairperson of the Gangnam-gu Municipal Chapter, who talked about “Mentoring Business for North Korean Refugees."

The outcomes of the group discussions held on the first day of the joint meeting were reported, and the attendants watched a video that recorded the process of policymaking meetings.