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"Incheon, the gateway to unification, response and preparation"

2023 Yellow Sea Peace Forum was held on 19 October in Incheon. Session, 2 of the Forum held with the theme “Lessons from German unification and Reflection on unification”, which is related to the 140th Anniversary of Diplomatic Ties between Korea and Germany.

 

The Yellow Sea Peace Forum is a regular academic event that was launched in 2019 and celebrated its fifth edition this year. The Yellow Sea Peace Forum brought together experts to discuss ways to achieve peaceful reunification in the Yellow Sea  region, which borders North Korea at the Han River Estuary and the West Sea, and to gather opinions from experts and civil society at home and abroad to spread consensus on reunification in the region. Mr. Kim Young-soo, Project manager of HSF Korea, participated in the event and held a discussion with experts on the topic of reflective reunification and the lessons of German reunification at the session to commemorate the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Germany.

 

Mr. Kim shared his experiences working at the HSF Korea and his experiences in pre-reunification Germany, where he visited for research. According to him, before the reunification of the two Germanys, municipal exchanges (sisterhood relationship) and administrative support were active, and these relationships continued for a long time after the reunification. In addition, West German citizens, including students, were allowed to visit East Germany and East German retirees were allowed to visit West Germany to pay tribute to their relatives, and letters and parcels could be exchanged between the two Germanys. On the other hand, he noted that inter-Korean relations have been stuck for more than 70 years since the division of the country, with no continuous exchanges, and that security obstacles have made the situation incomparably more difficult than that between East and West Germany. He added that reunification is the mission of both Koreas, and to achieve this goal, we must constantly try and strive for exchanges and meetings.

Based on the experience and lessons of German reunification, the HSF Korea works for reconciliation and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula through a number of activities, including the Korean Peninsula Peace Project, as well as environmental protection projects in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.

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