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Lessons from Germany? International Conference Organized by the DMZ Institute of Daejin University

On December 10, 2020, in Seoul International Conference on Peace and Cooperation of the Korean Peninsula organized by The DMZ Institute of Daejin University, The Korean Association of Area Studies, The Korean Association of Border Area and Reunification Study, and Song, Younggil, Congressman of the Korean National Assembly, took place. Politicians, researchers and academics came together to discuss virtually and offline “Cooperation of the inter-Germany Border Area and Peace and Cooperation of the Korean Peninsula”.

In his discussion of the paper on the “lessons from German unification” by Prof. Lee Eun-Jeung of Free University Berlin Dr. Bernhard Seliger pointed out that “lessons” can only be drawn with the utmost care, given different geo-political, geo-economic and cultural circumstances. He pointed at the importance of private exchanges as the driver for continued connectivity of East and West, a point completely lacking in Korea, and urged some reforms to promote private exchanges.

 

The opening speech for the conference was given by Song, Younggil, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly of the ROK. Presenters included Prof. Byoung-Kwon Sohn of Chung-Ang University, Prof. Jae-Woo Choo of Kyung Hee University, Korea and Prof. Moon, Seong-mook of Daejin University. They looked at developments in Northeast Asia, in the light of shifting power balance, the US election etc. Their papers were discussed by Prof. Roland B. Wilson of George Mason University Songdo branch, Prof. Han Xiandong of China University of Political Science and Law, Hong, Min, research fellow in the Korea Institute for National Unification and Kim, Hyung-suk, former Vice-Minister of Ministry of Unification of South Korea.

 

The second session looked specifically at German unification and possible lessons for Korea. Besides Prof. Lee Eun-jeung, presenters included Eberhard Kuhrt, former top-level civil servant in the Federal Ministry of the Interior of West Germany and responsible for a task force on border delineation and cooperation, as well as Dr. Mimura Mishuhiro, Senior Research Fellow at the Economic Research Institute of Northeast Asia in Niigata, Japan. Discussants included Ki-young Sung, research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy, Korea, and Suh, Bo-hyuk, research fellow at the Korean Institute for National Unification.

 

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