Event
The 2023 Unification and Cultural Policy Forum: Towards a new understanding of unification
Since 2000, the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute has been holding the forum on unification and cultural policy. This year the forum was co-organized by the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) Korea Office. Various experts came together to discuss new understandings of unification and the role cultural policy can play.
Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of HSF Korea, held a presentation about the present and future of North Korea, with a focus on North Korea’s reopening after recent years of isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He stressed the need for the resumption of especially humanitarian projects, given the worsening food crisis.
Also discussed were changes in the perception of unification in South and North Korea as well as mutual perceptions. It appears the perception of the primary aim of the North Korea policy is shifting from Korean unification to a peaceful coexistence on the Korean peninsula.
Dr. Hyun-ah Choi, Senior researcher at the HSF Korea Office, stressed how the lack of contact and exchange with North Korea and North Korea’s continuous military activity foster a negative image. Against the background of various projects by HSF, Dr. Choi sees potential in cooperation and exchange through projects concerning the environment and ecological conservation, as nature knows no borders.
The cultural exchange focused on the international context can make it possible for people from the Korean Peninsula to exchange. Traditional Korean culture, for example, can present a common basis for cooperation and exchange.