Action for Korea United chair blasts unification minister’s ‘two-state framework’

Action for Korea United (AKU) co-Chair Seo In-taek speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the nongovernmental organization's office in Seoul, Dec. 17. Courtesy of AKU

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has been at the center of controversy for his policy drive promoting the so-called “peaceful two-state framework,” which claims the North and South now function as “two separate countries in reality.”

Chung’s theory provoked an immediate backlash not only from academic and diplomatic circles but also within the Lee Jae Myung administration.

National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac rebutted the unification minister’s claims during his September visit to Washington, D.C., saying that “the government does not support or recognize any two-state frameworks.”

Action for Korea United (AKU) co-Chair Seo In-taek also expressed his concerns about the Lee administration’s internal muddle in North Korea policy, noting that any perception of Korea as two separate countries could signal the abandonment of unification aims.

“It is not only nonsense but also very unconstitutional,” Seo said during an interview with The Korea Times.

“North Korean leader Kim Jong-un started fundamentally reshaping the regime’s official stance by formally renouncing the goal of unification with the South in 2024, a sea change from the North’s three-generation-long ‘juche,’ meaning self-reliance,” Seo said. Juche has been the state ideology of the North since the 1970s, its conceptualization widely attributed to Kim Il-sung.

Seo said North Korea’s new stance clearly demonstrates that the regime’s long-term vision for unification has failed, and its ideological competition against Seoul has suffered a defeat.

“Most North Korean people now understand how wealthy the South has become. They long for freedom. They want to be rich like South Koreans,” Seo said.

“Now is the threshold-like moment for unification, but the Lee Jae Myung administration is sitting on its hands. Likewise, previous governments were also incompetent in achieving unification. Every time leftist governments come to power, they come up with Sunshine Policy-like approaches. Rightist governments, on the other hand, have utilized a hawkish stance towards Pyongyang. There’s no consistency here. This is why we always fail to properly address North Korea policies,” he added.

Seo has a bold proposal for the government. “It needs to dissolve the Ministry of Unification and install a nongovernmental advisory committee in order to take the politics out of the unification agenda. It should also make the Korean Dream Vision a mandatory part of the curriculum in Korean education,” he said.

Korean Dream Vision refers to Global Peace Foundation (GPF) Founder and Chairman Hyun Jin Preston Moon’s concept of peaceful unification. Unlike past efforts focusing mostly on methodology, the vision aims to draw a picture of how a unified Korean Peninsula can bring hope for all of humanity.

“It is also a hope for youngsters in Korea,” Seo added. “The country’s economy has peaked, and is facing a long downhill. More than 1.5 million youngsters in their 20s and 30s are experiencing difficulties in landing a job. I am sure unification will be a solution for the young generation in the two Koreas.”

According to recent government data, North Korea’s current economic situation could be as bad as the Arduous March in the early 1990s, when a severe famine resulted in increased defection from the North. The country is known to annually need 5.9 million tons of food, but secured only 4.5 million in 2022.

Additionally, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said that North Korea’s gross domestic product has decreased by about 12 percent between 2017 and 2021. During the COVID-19 pandemic, its trade with China was halted due to border closures. The BOK has estimated that it will require at least $250 billion — and perhaps as much as $2 trillion — over 10 years to build a unified Korea.