[The Editors' Verdict] The Unification Plan Needs a New Framework

[Asia Economy] Our unification plan is the ‘National Community Unification Plan.’ This plan, which was formulated in 1994 by integrating and synthesizing existing unification plans and policies, has continued to this day. The plan envisions completing a unified Korea through the stages of ‘reconciliation and cooperation → inter-Korean confederation → unified state.’

The key connecting link between each stage is the ‘(Han)minjok’ (Korean nation). The problem is that the South and the North interpret ‘minjok’ differently. Our ‘minjok’ is the ‘Hanminjok’ based on historical legitimacy, while North Korea’s ‘minjok’ is the ‘Kim Il-sung minjok’ based on Juche ideology.

This issue is important because the quality of life after unification depends on which form of ‘minjok’ is chosen. The ‘(Han)minjok’ guarantees popular sovereignty (主權在民), whereas the ‘Kim Il-sung minjok’ is expected to lead to the abyss of sovereignty absence (主權不在).

Such differing meanings of ‘minjok’ are highly likely to act as toxins during the unification process, causing confusion and side effects. According to a recent unification awareness survey (Seoul National University Institute for Unification and Peace Studies), the necessity of unification remains above 50%. This figure indicates that unification is an unavoidable historical responsibility and a call to complete a unified Korea.

However, the theory of ‘permanent division’ is being raised mainly among the 20s and 30s generations. The background of this argument is that ‘Kim Il-sung minjok = three-generation hereditary dictatorship,’ which severely damages the meaning of ‘(Han)minjok,’ and that unification involving the ‘Kim Il-sung minjok’ would drastically lower the quality of life after unification, leading to rejection of unification.

This means that when establishing the ‘National Community Unification Plan,’ the concept of ‘minjok’ as a unification link has reached its end. Also, the ‘Kim Il-sung minjok’ must be separated during the unification process to follow the correct path of unification, which should be based on proper values.

The word ‘unification’ contains two meanings. One is the ‘negation of reality,’ meaning the end of division, and the other is the ‘continuation of reality,’ meaning the maintenance of a unified state after unification. This can be summarized as ‘what to negate and what to continue in reality.’ This meaning is no exception for Korean Peninsula unification.

Meanwhile, South and North Korea aim to complete unification based on their own guiding values. Our value is freedom, and North Korea’s value is Juche ideology. The ‘(Han)minjok’ aligns with freedom, while the ‘Kim Il-sung minjok’ aligns with Juche ideology.

In this reality, the direction for the choice toward Korean Peninsula unification is clear. Juche ideology must be rejected, and freedom must be sustained as the correct direction for unification.

The reason freedom is the link for unification is that freedom is the foundation of democracy, rule of law, human rights, prosperity, and peace, aligns with our constitutional spirit, and because the damaged ‘minjok’ has weakened the foundation of the ‘National Community Unification Plan.’ Therefore, the framework must shift from the ‘National Community Unification Plan’ based on minjok to the ‘Freedom Community Unification Plan’ based on freedom.

The ‘Freedom Community Unification Plan’ does not fall from the sky. The prerequisite for this is the liberalization of North Korea. North Korean liberalization is the process of expelling the ‘Kim Il-sung minjok’ and reviving the ‘(Han)minjok’ to establish the foundation for free unification, separating the beneficiary group of Juche ideology from the North Korean people to form a freedom community.

To this end, it is necessary to normalize the functions of the nearly defunct North Korean Human Rights Foundation and to completely revise the ‘Law Prohibiting Leaflets to North Korea.’ Also, by simultaneously opening broadcasts in South and North Korea, access to external information for North Korean residents should be expanded to pave the way toward a freedom community.

Therefore, at this point, North Korean liberalization is an even more urgent task. Only then can South and North Korea build a freedom community and lay the foundation for the Korean Peninsula’s rise.

Jo Young-gi, Chairman of the Advanced Unification Research Group, Korea Peninsula Advancement Foundation