Seminar
2021 International DMZ Peace Cooperation Forum

The event was opened by the Vice Minister of Unification Choi Young-Gu. Overall, the event offered a platform to exchange various ideas for new possibilities for inter-Korean cooperation and become a venue for communication. Through this event, Korea Maritime Institute proclaimed the 2021 Yanggue Peace Declaration and established it as a place to substantialize the peace in the Demilitarized Zone on the Korean Peninsula once again.

Delivering the first keynote presentation, Nam Jeong-Ho, head of the Korean Maritime Institute, explained the strategy to preserve the Han River Estuary and peaceful cooperation in this area. He explained the status of conservation and development of local government. The lack of integrated mechanisms and legal backgrounds for utilizing the department’s blueprint was a main issue. He thus emphasized the need to reorganize legislation and strengthen governance while promoting the international peace zone at the Han River Estuary, realize political and military peace, achieve prosperity through economic development, and balance of ecosystem protection. Lee Tae-Woo, senior researcher at the National Institute of Ecology and the second keynote speaker at the event, shared the current status of the ecosystem in Han River Estuary and the results of field research on plants, wetlands, and amphibians.

On the panel discussion session to adopt the 2021 DMZ Yanggu Peace Declaration, Dr. Choi Hyun-Ah participated as a discussant. Dr. Choi has been contributing to the Han River Survey since 2018 and attended this meeting as a co-author. She discussed ways to use the Han River Estuary area as an ecological peace area.