16th Tongil Hankuk Forum
Prospects for a System Change in the DPRK

The 16th Tongil Hankuk Forum took place on March 23, 2018 at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul. About 40 members of the forum participated. The Tongil Hankuk Forum was brought into being in December 2015 following the initiative of Mr Shin Young-Seok (President of the IPA: Institute for Peace Affairs - main project partner of HSF Korea for reunification) and the financial support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation. Since then the forum has already met 15 times.

On the 16th Forum, Dr Lee Kwan Lake lectured about the "Background and prospects for a system change in the Kim Jong-Un Regime". Dr Lee Kwan-Se is currently director of the IFES (Institute for Far Eastern Studies) at Kyungnam University and was Secretary of State at the Ministry of Reunification. Dr Lee has given the following content in his speech: With the death of his father in 2012, Kim Jong-Un has more or less stabilised his position of power since taking office. He has now established two pillars as his essential state strategy byungjin: simultaneous development of nuclear missiles and economic development. After the nuclear program of North Korea had developed strongly, he now tried to achieve an improvement in relations with the United States, which was not always crowned with success. Then, with intensified attempts at its nuclear program, North Korea repeatedly caused global concerns and tensions, which in turn led to strong isolation and sanctions against North Korea. Now North Korea is trying to change the situation and is increasingly approaching South Korea and the US. North Korea is ready to engage in talks with South Korea and the United States. Now we have to keep watching if North Korea's offer can be taken seriously.