Join us for this conversation about prospects for Korean Unification with Jeongmin Kim, Lead Correspondent at NK News / Editorial Director at Korea Pro, Dr. Lee Sang-shin, director of the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy at Korea Institute of National Unification (KINU), and Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), in conversation with Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado. This panel will explore recent policy shifts towards unification in South Korea under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and in North Korea announced by Chairman Kim Jong Un at the ninth plenary meeting of the eighth central committee of the ruling Workers' Party. What are the consequences of Kim’s announcement that North Korea’s long standing policy goal of unification (one nation, two systems) will be dropped? The expert panel will also discuss changing public opinion in South Korea, including demographic and ideological splits in policy preferences for the future of the Korean Peninsula. Plus, in addition to discussing the well-understood challenges and obstacles to practically embarking on a process of unification, the panel will cover some of the potential benefits of Unification, including demographic, sociocultural, geopolitical, and economic factors.

The promotional partner for this program is Columbia University’s APEC Study Center.

Korean Unification: A Fading Prospect?

Wednesday, March 6, 2024 | 8 AM (EST)

The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

About the Speakers:

Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt is the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he researches and writes on demographics and economic development, as well as on security in the Korean peninsula and Asia. Mr. Eberstadt is also a senior adviser to the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). He has also served as consultant or adviser for a variety of units within the US government.

Jeongmin Kim is the Lead Correspondent at NK News and Editorial Director at Korea Pro, based in Seoul. Kim covers inter-Korean and DPRK-related foreign, defense and humanitarian affairs, and has covered the 2022 ROK Presidential election on the ground. Prior to joining NK News, she worked for the CSIS Korea Chair in Washington D.C. and Reuters news agency’s Seoul bureau. Follow her on Twitter @jeongminnkim.

Dr. Sang Sin LEE is a research fellow and the director of the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU). Dr. Lee’s research areas include political behavior and elections, and public opinion in South Korea. After receiving a Ph. D. in Political Science at the University of Iowa in 2008, he worked for the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at the Seoul National University and then joined the KINU in January 2016. Dr. Lee is currently in charge of the KINU Unification Survey. The KINU Unification Survey is recognized as one of the most important polls in Korea and is cited by major media outlets around the world, including the New York Times, Newsweek, and the BBC.