Should Seoul formally abandon the goal of reunification with North Korea?

A year and a half ago, North Korea made waves when it announced that it was abandoning the goal of inter-Korean reunification. Now, South Koreans are getting ready to head to the ballot box to elect a new president, with their pick set to shape Seoul’s policy toward a neighbor that now views the South as a “hostile, enemy state.” On this week’s episode, Dr. Tomasz Wierzbowski and Dr. J.R. Kim join the podcast to debate whether Seoul should formally abandon the national goal of unification with North Korea. They discuss the evolving generational and political attitudes toward unification, whether the Ministry of Unification should be overhauled or scrapped and the ethics of maintaining peaceful coexistence with an authoritarian neighbor. Dr. Tomasz Wierzbowski is an adjunct professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and the Korea Representative of EURAXESS, a European Commission initiative supporting researcher mobility.  Dr. J.R. Kim retired as director-general at South Korea’s Ministry of Unification and is still active as the president of the Korean Council for Peace and Cooperation.  About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists. NK News subscribers can listen to this and other exclusive episodes from their preferred podcast player by accessing the private podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide at nknews.org/private-feed.