Korean Reunification: A Fading Prospect?

Join us for this conversation about prospects for Korean Unification with Jeongmin Kim, Lead Correspondent at NK News / Editorial Director at Korea Pro, Dr. Lee Sang-shin, director of the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy at Korea Institute of National Unification (KINU), and Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), in conversation with Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado. This panel will explore recent policy shifts towards unification in South Korea under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and in North Korea announced by Chairman Kim Jong Un at the ninth plenary meeting of the eighth central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party. What are the consequences of Kim’s announcement that North Korea’s long standing policy goal of unification (one nation, two systems) will be dropped? The expert panel will also discuss changing public opinion in South Korea, including demographic and ideological splits in policy preferences for the future of the Korean Peninsula. Plus, in addition to discussing the well-understood challenges and obstacles to practically embarking on a process of unification, the panel will cover some of the potential benefits of Unification, including demographic, sociocultural, geopolitical, and economic factors.