Korean Peninsula Trust-Building Process 2.0: A Complex Approach of Deterrence, Engagement, and Trust

Inter-Korean RelationsThe long-standing cycle of hostility in inter-Korean relations has historically seen few breakthroughs. The July 4th South-North Joint Communiqué in the early 1970s vanished like a dream on a summer night, 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 on President Park Geun-hye's 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 proposes a new direction for North Korea policy, and indeed for unification diplomacy, from a new perspective of "Co-advancement for Complexity" to find a new breakthrough in the vicious cycle of inter-Korean relations over the past decade. This requires efforts to evolve and develop existing unification discussions to fit the era of complex transformation in the 21st century. Therefore, the East Asia Institute has launched 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 line 2.0, which simultaneously builds denuclearization, security, and economy; and the surrounding countries' East Asia New Order Construction Plan 2.0. As the first fruit of this effort, at the meeting 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 completed the policy proposal. This book compiles policy proposals that aim to break through the current vicious 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 Affairs

Chapter 4: Economy

Appendix

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

2. Kim Jong-un, First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, New Year's Address for 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 (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, Address at the Conferment of an Honorary Doctorate at 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.

Attachment: Korean Peninsula Trust-Building Process 2.0_Introduction_Executive Summary.pdf