‘Embracing Unification, Unraveling Unification’ … 2023 Busan Peace and Unification Expo Held

Busan City will hold the ‘2023 Busan Peace and Unification Expo’ under the slogan ‘Embracing Unification, Solving Unification’ on the 27th at Yurari Square in Jung-gu.

2023 Busan Peace and Unification Expo Poster.

Unlike last year’s event co-hosted with the Ministry of Unification, this year’s ‘2023 Busan Peace and Unification Expo’ will be held solely by the city. The event will focus on North Korean defectors and residents from the Five Northern Provinces, offering comfort for the sorrows of displaced persons and meaningfully engaging youth in advancing unification.

The ‘2022 Busan Peace and Unification Expo,’ held for the first time last year to raise awareness of peace and unification and spread unification culture, was well received with a comprehensive lineup of unification-related organizations, content, and achievements.

This year’s event will feature a variety of programs including ▲an opening ceremony, ▲stage programs, and ▲unification experience and policy information booths. In particular, related events such as ▲Busan Metropolitan City Day for Residents from the Northern Provinces and ▲Busan Youth Peace Forum will also be held.

The ‘Busan Metropolitan City Day for Residents from the Northern Provinces’ is held annually to soothe the homesickness of approximately 780,000 residents from the Northern Provinces living in Busan and North Korean defectors, and to pray for the swift peaceful unification of South and North Korea. Notably, in March this year, ‘Separated Families Day’ (annually on the 13th day of the 8th lunar month) was designated as a national memorial day.

The ‘Busan Youth Peace Forum,’ jointly organized by Busan City and the Yeongnam region’s leading universities for unification education, will focus on ‘The Future of Unification and Peace as Envisioned by Youth.’ Unification education experts and young people will engage in discussions on unification and propose directions for unification education for future generations. The forum will also be broadcast live on YouTube via Busan KBS’s ‘BukeBukae’ channel.

The opening ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. on the 27th at Yurari Square in Jung-gu. About 300 attendees, including Deputy Mayor Ahn Byung-yoon, Son Yang-young, Governor of Hamgyeongnam-do from the Five Northern Provinces Committee, representatives from the Busan Regional Conference of the National Unification Advisory Council, the Busan branch of the Korean Freedom Federation, and the North Korean Defectors Regional Adaptation Center (Hana Center), will celebrate the opening and tour the expo venue.

The stage program will feature a variety of performances including ▲a saxophone performance by children of North Korean defectors, ▲an OX quiz with North Korean defectors, and unification cultural performances by Amichi Musical and the Yegreen Choir.

The unification experience and policy information booths will be organized into Past, Present, and Future zones, allowing visitors to explore them in chronological order. Various unification-related organizations such as the Korean Freedom Federation Busan branch and Busan Hana Center will participate, offering diverse programs to help citizens easily and closely engage with unification culture and develop interest in unification and the realities of North Korea.

The Past Zone will include ▲a Refugee Unification Photo Gallery where visitors can experience Busan as the refuge capital, ▲heritage from Busan as the refuge capital during the Korean War, and ▲a Northern Province cuisine experience exhibition.

The Present Zone will provide insights into the realities of North Korea through ▲a North Korean human rights photo exhibition, ▲a unification virtual reality (VR) experience, as well as booths introducing ▲Busan Hana Center, ▲settlement support systems for North Korean defectors, and ▲Jangdaehyeon Middle and High School, the only accredited alternative school for North Korean defectors in the Yeongnam and Honam regions. These booths will offer useful information for North Korean defectors residing in Busan.

The Future Zone will feature ▲the creation of a 15-minute city, ▲support for the bid to host the 2030 Busan World Expo, and ▲activities for envisioning Busan’s future.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, “I hope this Busan Peace and Unification Expo will serve as an opportunity to reflect on the pain of division and renew hope for unification,” adding, “We ask for the active interest and participation of all citizens.”