Korea Trust-Building Process 2.0: A Complex Pursuit of Deterrence, Engagement, and Trust

Inter-Korean RelationsThe persistent cycle of inter-Korean relations has historically struggled to find a breakthrough. The July 4th South-North Joint Communiqué in the early 1970s dissolved like a summer night's dream, and the Basic Agreement between South and North Korea and the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the early 1990s became faded documents, forgotten. The two inter-Korean summits held in the 21st century also failed to find a new path to overcome the adversarial relationship between South and North Korea. Although new political leaders emerged in both South and North Korea in the 2010s, the window of opportunity has still not opened. The speech by President Park Geun-hye on the Dresden Initiative for Peace and Unification on the Korean Peninsula in late March, and North Korea's National Defense Commission spokesperson's statement in response, accurately reflect the current reality on the Korean Peninsula.

In response, the East Asia Institute (EAI) proposes a new direction for North Korea policy, and by extension, unification diplomacy, from the perspective of "Co-advancement for Complexity" over the past decade, seeking a new breakthrough in the cycle of inter-Korean relations. This requires efforts to evolve and develop existing unification discussions to suit the era of 21st-century complex transformation. Thus, the EAI has initiated a new joint research project that complexly combines Korea's Trust-Building Process 2.0, which pursues deterrence, engagement, and trust in a complex manner; North Korea's parallel development policy 2.0, which simultaneously builds denuclearization security and economy; and the surrounding countries' East Asia New Order Construction Initiative 2.0. As the first fruit of this endeavor, at the meeting held in October last year, we discussed a draft prepared under the title "Proposal for a New North Korea Policy: Towards the Evolution of the Trust-Building Process" with government officials and leading conservative and progressive Korean Peninsula experts in Korea, and based on this, we have completed the policy proposal. This book compiles and publishes policy proposals that aim to break through the current cycle of inter-Korean relations and lead to an irreversible future of a unified Korea, ensuring that there is no regression.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Chapter 1: General Discussion

Chapter 2: Diplomacy

Chapter 3: Security and Military

Chapter 4: Economy

Appendix

1. [EAI Commentary No. 32] Ha Young-sun, "Finding the Way in North Korea 2014: An Hermeneutics of the New Year's Address"

2. Kim Jong-un, First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, New Year's Address 2014 (January 1, 2014)

3. Kim Jong-un, First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Report to the 3rd Plenary Meeting of the 3rd Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (March 31, 2013)

4. Park Geun-hye, "A Journey Towards a New Inter-Korean Relationship" (December 30, 2013)

5. Park Geun-hye, Address to a Joint Session of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives (May 9, 2013)

6. Park Geun-hye, Speech at the Conferment Ceremony of an Honorary Doctorate from the Dresden University of Technology, "Initiative for Peace and Unification on the Korean Peninsula" (March 28, 2014)

For the convenience of our readers, parts of the manuscript of this book are being made public.