President Park Geun-hye announced that she will launch a presidential committee in order to seek a systemic, constructive direction for reunification of the Korean Peninsula. President Park said that the country needs to prepare for reunification in order to open a new era for the Korean Peninsula, during an announcement of statement on February 25 to mark the first anniversary of her administration.



“At the New Year’s press conference earlier this year, I said that unification would bring a bonanza to the Korean Peninsula. We need to prepare for a new era on the Korean Peninsula in order to achieve true peace in the region and in order for the Republic of Korea to make great strides forward,” said President Park. “I will do my utmost to strengthen the basis for peace and unification on the peninsula in order to make the reunification of Korea come true,” the president added.



She said that the proposed presidential committee will prepare for reunification of the Korean Peninsula and will expand the range of inter-Korean dialogue and the number of people-to-people exchanges in the private sector. “The committee will enable experts in diplomacy, national security, economics, social and cultural policy, and even the private sector and civic groups, to participate in national discussions about unification and make a concrete blueprint for a reunified Korea. This will lead to a new era of great social integration, both generational consolidation and consolidation of the two Koreas,” said the president.

The proposed presidential committee on reunification will have two big roles: create a social consensus on unification within the country; and, prepare for unification in a concrete and clearly defined manner.

To achieve this goal, President Park said that she will encourage people across various social strata to participate in the proposed committee, in order to reflect the opinions of a wide range of people. Not only experts in the private sector, but also representatives from civic groups will take part in the committee, which will create, through open discussion, one integrated national plan for unification. To do so, the committee will consolidate the many points of view about the reunification of Korea, a country which has been divided for 69 years. It will also hope to narrow the difference in the desire for unification between the generations.



In regard to concrete preparation for unification, President Park emphasized the need to prepare thoroughly in advance, mentioning Germany’s case of reunification. “Germany made detailed preparation plans, one by one, for a long time, in order to successfully open an era of reunification,” said the president.

Regarding preparation for reunification, President Park said that Korea needs to make a lot of preparation and receive help from private organizations and non-governmental organizations alike, from both Korea and from overseas, if necessary. “A lot of in-depth studies and preparation will be needed in order to reduce the number of trials and errors, so that unification will become a blessing for all people in both Koreas,” said the president.

By Jeon Han, Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writers
hanjeon@korea.kr