Time to find a new unification formula

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Time to find a new unification formula

Published: 02 Apr. 2024, 19:43

Cho Young-key
The author is director-general of Hansun Foundation and former professor of North Korea Studies at Korea University.

The Unification Ministry announced a new unification initiative that reflects a liberalism philosophy, after President Yoon Suk Yeol called for a “free and unified Korean Peninsula where the people are the owners” in his March 1 Independence Movement holiday speech. The ministry has responded to North Korea’s characterization of the two Koreas as “two hostile states at war.” The response can be interpreted as an attempt to revise and improve the “Korean National Community Unification Formula,” which marked its 30th anniversary this year, to complete a unified Korea based on our Constitutional values such as freedom, democracy and human rights.

Yoon’s speech dramatically shifted the agenda from “unification of the two Koreas” to “unification based on freedom.” This change in direction should be welcomed since next year will mark the 80th anniversary of division of the Korean Peninsula while the meaning of “one nation” has been greatly tarnished and corrupted. In fact, there is no commonality between the sovereign people in the South and the juche (self-reliance) followers in the North who lack such sovereignty. In other words, the people of the same nation have already lost their role as a link in unification, which raises the need for a new formula.

Unification requires the formation of a political community based on common ideology and values. But the two Koreas, with different ideologies and values, face a choice of regime. The question is what standards should be used to make that choice. The answer lies in the word unification. Unification means denying the reality of national division. It means maintaining a unified country after unification.

At the end of the day, unification comes down to the question of which system to deny and which system to keep. A unified Korea will deny the juche totalitarianism of the North while maintaining the liberal democracy and freedom of the South.

We have a clear reason why freedom should be the foundation of unification. Human history has shown that freedom, more than any other value or ideology, has improved quality of life and ensured prosperity. Freedom has a proven track record of creativity and progress. A satellite photo of the peninsula at night vividly shows its power. It also enables democracy, peace and human rights. Therefore, a unified Korea based on freedom is the only logical conclusion.

Divided countries seek self-initiated unification. That is why we prepared the Korean National Community Unification Formula in 1994 and engaged in talks and negotiations with the North to implement the plan. But we could not overcome the barriers of ideology and values. So the need for a new unification formula is constantly raised.

Generation MZ wants the two Koreas to remain divided. But the idea of permanent division is unrealistic because the North aims to absorb the South with nuclear weapons. At the end of last year and early this year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un promoted the idea of “two hostile states.” The word “hostile” is threatening. As peaceful unification based on its existing strategy of deceptive reconciliation seems impossible, Kim revealed his true intention to accomplish armed, communist unification with violence. It is a confession that he has nothing but nuclear arms to rely on.

The future, if advanced by the North without freedom, is destined to be miserable. But Kim’s latest mention of “two hostile states” is actually an opportunity for us to promote our own agenda. We must continue to create opportunities for unification and seize them when they come. We must further cherish freedom at home and abroad and enrich that value for the sake of unification. Freedom is the engine of development and the guardian of peace.

If we find a path to development and peace through freedom, Kim will be increasingly intimidated, and the North Korean people will long for freedom. The next step will be spreading freedom to the North so that its people can realize its importance. To this end, we should make efforts to convey the universal values of freedom, democracy and human rights across the border.

The informatization of North Korea can be considered mental support since it conveys values of unification based on freedom. As that mental support accumulates, universal values of humanity will become common sense and serve as the basis for unification based on freedom.
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.