SEOUL – The Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (PUAC) and Yonhap News Agency hosted a forum to address the unification of the Korean Peninsula and North Korea’s growing security threats following its recent satellite launch.
According to Yonhap News Agency, The forum was held at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul hotel, focusing on “International cooperation aiming to realize freedom, peace, and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.” The event brought together government officials and security experts to discuss the evolving situation.
PUAC, a presidential consultative body for policy-making on democratic and peaceful unification, organized the inaugural 2023 Global Dialogue on Korean Peninsula Unification. This initiative seeks to bolster international cooperation amid challenges like North Korea’s missile and nuclear capabilities, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The forum comes in the wake of North Korea’s launch of a military spy satellite earlier this week, claimed by Pyongyang to be successfully orbited in its third attempt. The North Korean regime has vowed to continue satellite launches to boost its self-defense.
Key speakers, including Kim Kwan-yong, executive vice chairperson of PUAC, and Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho, emphasized the need for a new approach to reunification and tackling North Korea’s provocations. They advocated for dialogue grounded in principles of free democracy and respect for universal values like freedom and human rights.
Participants, such as Patrick Cronin from the Hudson Institute and Lee Che-chuan from the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, contributed to discussions on various themes, including democracy in North Korea and the Indo-Pacific Strategy. The forum’s sessions, addressing issues like public diplomacy on unification and North Korea’s political situation, were livestreamed on PUAC’s official YouTube channel.