The 2025 International Forum on One Korea received significant national attention and was featured prominently across Korea’s media networks. Many stories highlighted the forum’s vision for a free and unified Korea, coinciding with the historic commemoration of the 80th Liberation Day.

Hosted in Seoul, the Forum convened policymakers, scholars, civil society leaders, and youth to advance the Korean Dream and chart a path toward peaceful reunification. Complementing the forum, the 2025 Korean Dream Hangang Festa—held at Ttukseom Hangang Park—brought together thousands for a cultural celebration featuring music, performances, and messages of hope from global voices. These twin events inspired a new generation and underscored the growing momentum for a unified Korea.

The Korea Times: Address by Global Peace Foundation Chairman Hyun Jin Preston Moon at banquet marking Korea’s 80th Liberation Day

MK News: 드론쇼와 함께 한 ‘2025 코리안드림 한강대축제’

Joongang: 광복절 기념 ‘코리안드림 한강대축제’ 성료 [출처:중앙일보]

Economist: 시민 3만 명, 광복절 저녁 드론쇼에 ‘코리안드림’ 띄우다

Munhwa: 하늘 위 1200대 드론, 통일 염원 그렸다

News 1: ‘코리안드림 한강대축제’ 대규모 불꽃쇼

News 1: 광복 80주년 기념한 ‘코리안드림 한강대축제’

Asia Today: 80주년 광복절 기념 ‘2025 코리안드림 한강대축제’ 개최

Herald Economy: ‘케데헌’ 까치호랑이, 한강 하늘서 ‘통일’ 외치자, 3만명 열광·환호·합창[함영훈의 멋·맛·쉼]

Sports Trends: 시민 3만 명, 드론쇼에 ‘코리안드림’ 띄우다

Newsis: 2025 코리안드림 한강대축제 드론쇼

Yonhap News: [K스토리] 광복 80년, ‘코리안드림’으로 하나 된 축제

Dong-A News: 광복 80주년 3만 시민 한강서 ‘통일’ 외쳤다‘2025 코리안드림 한강대축제’ 개최… ‘케데헌 까치호랑이’ 드론쇼 밤하늘 수놓아

Asia Today: [전문] 문현진 글로벌피스재단 세계의장, ‘광복80주년기념만찬’ 기조연설문

Asia Today: 문현진 글로벌피스재단 의장 “통일부 대신 비정부기관…일관된 방향성 중요”

Munhwa: “통일은 제2의 ‘한강의 기적’… 젊은이들에 큰 기회될 것”

World Daily: 한강 밤하늘에 드론 1200대 떴다…“통일은 통합의 지평”

Nate News: 한강 밤하늘에 드론 1200대 떴다…”통일은 통합의 지평”

Nate News: ‘케데헌’ 까치호랑이, 한강 하늘서 ‘통일’ 외치자, 3만명 열광·환호·합창[함영훈의 멋·맛·쉼]

Chosun: 뚝섬 한강서 드론 1200대 투입 ‘2025 코리안드림 한강대축제’

Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon, Founder & Chairman of the Global Peace Foundation, delivers the keynote address at a banquet commemorating the 80th anniversary of Korean’s Liberation Day.

Watch the keynote address at the 2025 Action for Korea United banquet.

Honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen:

On this auspicious occasion, it is a great honor to address such a distinguished gathering of Korean patriots and supporters of our efforts for Korea’s peaceful reunification. In particular, I would like to recognize and thank the Hon. Chung Woon Chan, former Prime Minister of Korea and the Convener of Korean Dream Hangang Festa organizing committee, Hon. Chung Woo Taek, Co-Chair of the organizing committee, Hon. Kim Jin Pyo, the former speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Chung Dong Yeong, the Minister of Unification, and Hon. Song Seok Joon, member of the National Assembly.

I would like to also thank our leaders from around the world who have joined us today. H.E. Vinicio Cerezo, Former President of Guatemala, H.E. Jamil Mahuad, Former President of Ecuador, H.E. R. Amarjargal, Former Prime Minister of Mongolia, H.E. Anthony Kenny, Former Prime Minister of St. Lucia, H.E. Luis Castiglioni, Former Vice President of Paraguay. I want to also welcome all the leaders gathered here from around the world representing government, diplomacy, business, media and civil society.

We are gathered here to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Korean people’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. Over these eight decades we have seen remarkable transformations, especially here in the South. Yet, today, we face a turbulent, divided present, and an uncertain future. Old frameworks are crumbling, and we can no longer rely on past certainties to chart a path to the future.

What is it that we can truly celebrate today? The liberation of Korea at the end of World War II opened a window of historic opportunity. It was a time of hope when the ideals and aspirations of the Sam Il Independence movement rooted in the Korean people’s founding vision of Hong-Ik Ingan- “to broadly live for the benefit humanity”- breathed life into the dream of creating a new western-style constitutional republic that was “united, independent, and free.” Tragically, that was not to be. Instead, we experienced the division of the peninsula and, ultimately, a civil war between the Korean people with contrary visions of a future, unified Korea.

It is time to take stock, to understand from where we came from, where we stand today, and where we can find the clear vision and sense of national purpose that will guide us to a brighter future. The significance of this moment for the current reality of the peninsula and the future of our people cannot be overstated.

The Beginning of Korea’s Modern Era

The 20th century was the most consequential century for the Korean people and the peninsula. With its annexation into the Japanese empire in 1910, the Korean nation and civilization was on the brink of extinction as Japan’s policy of forceful integration sought to stamp out its language, culture and, most importantly, its historic identity. The utter brutality of their rule, fueled by their anti-Korean sentiments, triggered widespread condemnation and a growing grassroots movement for independence.

With the end of the First World War, President Wilson’s 14 Points raised the hopes of colonized nations, offering them the prospect of eventually attaining national sovereignty. However, the European powers, their manpower and economic reserves depleted by the war, had no interest of relinquishing their colonial holdings; nor, did Japan, since it sought to be accepted into the elite circle of the Western colonial powers in addition to pursuing its own ambition of expanding Japanese Imperial rule over the rest of Asia. Although the idea of national self-determination for colonized peoples died in the halls of Versailles, President Wilson’s initiative sparked the kindling of nationalist movements with a universal moral tone that harkened to the American Declaration of Independence and would, eventually, lead to collapse of the colonial system.

The first of those movements happened here in Korea. The March 1st (Sam-Il) movement mobilized more than ten percent of the population around the Korean Declaration of Independence in a series of peaceful demonstrations throughout the peninsula and the diaspora. It drew heavily from the American Declaration with ideas of “the equality of all nations,” liberty” and “inalienable” rights. It highlighted the need for enlightened leadership where the Korean people “entertain no spirit of vengeance towards Japan” but “to influence the Japanese Government, which is now dominated by the old idea of brute force, so that it will change and act in accordance with the principles of justice and truth.” It concludes with the implications for Korean independence for the rest of Northeast Asia and the dawning of a new era rooted in “righteousness and truth.”

The high-minded nature of the document was reflective of the spiritual leadership that made up the 33 representatives who signed the Korean Declaration of Independence. Representing the three dominant factions of the Korean religious community- Christianity, Buddhism and Cheondogyo, they sought to appeal to the universal spiritual principles and values reflected in the American Declaration since it appealed to western Judeo-Christian sensibilities on the “inalienable” right of national self-determination and, eventually, the sins of colonialism. In addition, the founders wanted to steer the more radical voices for independence away from violent insurrection to peaceful, non- violent protest since they recognized that global support was necessary for their ultimate success.

Yet, it would not be until the end of the Second World War that Korea would eventually find independence. Nevertheless, the impact of the framework they pioneered of high- minded spiritual principles and values married to non-violent protest became the winning formula for other colonized people in the post-war era, most notably in India. Later, that same model would be adopted by the Civil Rights movement in the United States by the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s to great effect, bringing an end to generational racial discrimination in the South, maintained through the policy of segregation and Jim Crow laws.

The Division of Korea

The end of the Second World War in 1945 led to Korean independence from Japanese rule. Unlike many other colonized nations, liberation did not lead to national self-determination; but a division along geographic and ideological lines that had nothing to do with the aspirations of the Korean independence movement. After the Japanese surrender, the United States and the Soviet Union, the occupying powers, agreed upon “zones of control” on the peninsula along the 38th parallel.

During the war, the Allied leadership had determined that post-war Korea would be placed under an “international trusteeship” until they believed that “Koreans would be deemed ready for self-rule.” It was understood that the occupational zones were temporary until the trusteeship could be implemented.

Understandably, the Korean people opposed the idea of a “trusteeship.” Liberation should have led to their own process of self-determination without the interference of outside powers. Yet, that is exactly what transpired. The heightening tension of the Cold War, eventually, led to the breakdown in negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union by 1947 and, thereby, effectively ended the only existing framework for an independent unified Korea by the great powers.

The matter of Korea’s future was then passed over to the nascent United Nations. It sought to oversee national elections that would form a united government for the divided peninsula by 1948. The Soviet Union chose not to comply with UN-supervised elections, so they were held only in the South. This led to the formation of the Republic of Korea on August 15, 1948, staying true to its independence roots, while the North established the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea a few weeks later on September 9 under the dictatorship of Kim Il-Sung.

However, in hindsight, the possibility of a national election for the divided Koreas under UN supervision was naïve wishful thinking in the vortex of Cold War geopolitics. The Soviet Union had no interest in relinquishing control over their zones of influence in Eastern Europe and now in Korea. In addition, the civil war in China was going badly for the Kuomintang-led government against the Chinese communist Party and, by 1949, their defeat on the mainland would lead to the formation of the People’s Republic of China. Korea was swept up into these global currents and its fate as a divided nation sealed to this day.

Thus, the division of the peninsula was a “foreign construct” that had nothing to do with the aspirations of the Korean people and their movement for independence and self- determination. Their dreams and aspirations were brushed aside like a sacrificial pawn on the global chessboard of great powers seeking to shape the future of Northeast Asia.

Yet, their interference on the peninsula and their vision for the region is what shaped the reality that we have today. One must remember that nothing is created in a vacuum, the end effect is the accumulated consequences of past actions.

The Current Reality of the Divided Koreas and Northeast Asia

Where do we stand 80 years later? The Korean people are still divided, and the aspirations of the Sam Il movement remain unfulfilled. The two Koreas hold diametrically opposed worldviews and have travelled very different paths: the DPRK has become a repressive, dictatorial, nuclear-armed state, that threatens regional and global security and whose population live in dire poverty; the ROK, on the other hand, has transitioned from a dysfunctional and corrupt republic into a military dictatorship and, now, back to a liberal democracy, in form at least. Despite all the political upheavals, it has become an economic and cultural powerhouse globally due to the industry of its people.

At the end of the Korean War, South Korea was a devastated land with an agricultural economy at the same level as the poorest countries in the Sahel region of Africa. It had no industry and no natural resources to speak of. Its only resource was the spirit of its people. They went to work to create a strong, prosperous nation, capable of standing firm against any future attacks from the North. The result was the Miracle on the Han. It enabled the Republic of Korea to be globally recognized as a prosperous, technologically advanced society.

But it came at a heavy price. Without an animating vision rooted in some deeper national purpose, it was willing to offset its most sacred cultural institution-the traditional Korean extended family model- for the sake of materialism and progressive views on gender roles, marriage and family, falsely thinking that those ideas reflected modernity. The family is the foundational cornerstone of any civilization and reflects the cultural history and identity of a people. Today, the South is paying for that mistake with the breakdown of the traditional Korean family model that is directly attributable to its alarming demographic crisis.

The South has the lowest birthrate in the world of 0.7, well below replacement level of 2.1. Although surveys show that many young people are not getting married because of the high cost of housing and children’s education, economic factors alone cannot explain the dramatic decline in fertility when previous generations had large families despite financial hardships. The real reason for this shift is the changing perceptions on marriage and family, reflective of the symptoms in every other developed nation in the world.

The second biggest problem is the chaebol system that gave rise to “Crony capitalism” and a militant labor movement. It was an anachronistic holdover from the military dictatorship where the national policy of industrialization led to a toxic brew of political, financial and chaebol collusion to kickstart the South’s economy. Yet, today, its legacy leads to legal, financial and regulatory hurdles that stifle competition and economic diversity. The four biggest players have revenues equal to 40 percent of GDP. In 2019, 64 chaebols were worth 84 percent of GDP, yet employed only 10 percent of the workforce.

The third problem is tied to the South’s primarily export driven economy centered on the chaebols. This becomes acutely problematic in the era of American protectionist policies under President Donald Trump since the US is the second largest trading partner after China. The Trump tariffs have reconfigured the global trade of goods and services and will, negatively impact trading partners like the ROK that traditionally enjoyed no tariffs on its products in the US market while maintaining protectionist policies at home.

According to the World Bank, Korea’s exports made up 44 percent of GDP in 2023, compared with just under 22 percent for Japan, and just over 20 percent for China. Korea’s export led economy is uniquely vulnerable to the impact of tariffs. Although the current South Korean regime negotiated a trade deal with the US, the 15% flat tax on Korean goods and its commitment to invest hundreds of billions into American key industries is already having deleterious effects. The long-term solution is an expanding domestic market but with the fertility crisis and the breakdown of the Korean family this seems to be an impossibility.

The Miracle on the Han has hit its peak and will face a sharp decline. There is urgent need for reform and renewal in every sphere of national life – politics, economics, society and culture. Such renewal will only come through a fresh vision and national purpose that all citizens and segments of society can unite around and work towards as our parents worked in the post-war period.

Korean Reunification

The challenge for the peninsula, today, is a unifying vision that can bring its many disparate parts together rooted in a renewed Korean identity that speaks to all Koreans, both North and South, and in the diaspora. Being a man of deep faith, I am reminded of Proverbs 29:18, “where there is no vision, the people perish.”

The vision for this new age is the Korean Dream. It will not only engender a rebirth of Korean culture and historical heritage but reconnect all Koreans to the providential calling of our people rooted in our founding ideals of Hong-Ik Ingan, “to live for the benefit of all humanity.” We will then create an ideal nation that marries the best of Korea with the modern world. The reality of South Korea that I outlined earlier makes it clear that this is an inflection point in its history with major cultural, institutional, structural, political and economic challenges going forward. The only comprehensive vision that charts the path forward is the Korean Dream.

It is also a transitional moment for the North, as well, with no apparent successor to the Kim legacy and the slow unraveling of its regime with its unprecedented level of defections among the DPRK’s elite, unlike any other moment in its history. The North’s recent position to abandon its national goal of unification speaks volumes to its unwitting acceptance that they no longer have a compelling vision for unifying the peninsula. This is significant since his grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, started the Korean War in 1950 to forcefully bring about unification. The goal of unification had been the “raison d’etre” for the creation of both Koreas and for the North to voluntarily relinquish that claim speaks volumes about the current reality of that regime.

The world should view the DPRK’s efforts to bypass and ignore the South to once again establish dialogue with the United States as a feeble effort to gain global legitimacy in pursuing a permanent two-state solution on the peninsula. The Trump administration should not entertain their overtures since the North would never give up their nukes through any negotiated settlement with the United States. The only real path to denuclearization is the peaceful unification of the two Koreas. At Camp David in 2023, the United States and Japan already committed to supporting the peaceful reunification of Korea if such an event were to happen. This current administration should stand by that commitment.

I would go as far as to say that Kim Jong-Un abandoned unification because he knew that he could not compete with the Korean Dream in offering a unifying vision for the peninsula. His intelligence services must be aware of its influence in the highest circle of Korean society, let it be in the media, entertainment, academia, politics and business communities. He must also be aware that the largest grassroots movement for unification in South Korean history is an initiative I have founded called the Action for Korea United (AKU). Most importantly, the thirty thousand defectors that reside in Korea as well those in the United States and Japan have rallied around the Korean Dream and the AKU movement as their only real hope to realize unification and be reunited with their relatives in the North.

He must also be aware of my family legacy. The significance of my grand uncle’s, Rev. Moon Yoon-guk, role in the formation of the Korean Declaration of Independence and his leadership in the Sam-il movement for liberation. He knows about the history of my father, the late Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, and his grandfather, Kim Il-Sung. Although my father devoted his entire life to fight the evils of communism, after experiencing its horrors in a North Korean concentration camp in Hungnam, in order to open a path toward unification, he was willing to go, in 1991, to the very regime that had tried to kill him and his family countless times and had perpetrated such great evil on the Korean people and nation. His fearless courage and utter sincerity in his convictions was said to have moved even Kim Il-Sung to the point that he told my father that he was the only one that he could trust outside the North.

So, it is fair to say that the unrivaled vision for a unified Korea is the Korean Dream. It is just a matter of time when it takes hold in the hearts of all Koreans as well as inspire countless others around the world. The Korean Dream was meant to be shared and owned by all who seek to fulfill its goal. I have often quoted Chingis Khan who is reputed to have said: “If one person has a dream, it is just a dream, but if all people have that dream, it becomes reality.” If the dream for a unified Korea I outlined in my book, Korean Dream: A Vision for a Unified Korea, was shared and owned by all Koreans, I know that unification will certainly come. Just as the collapse of the Berlin Wall came without any warning, so too will Korean unification.

The Korean Dream

The Korean Dream seeks to create a new nation, aligned with the aspirations of our ancestors throughout our five-thousand-year history, to fulfill the Hong-Ik Ingan mandate of Heaven. It clarifies the “foreign construct” of the Cold War framework that the peninsula has been struggling with for the past eight decades and recognizes the shortcomings of both South and North Korea. The only way to break out of that framework is the formation of a new nation that harkens back to the hopes of the Sam-Il movement that launched the modern era for our people. But, unlike the geo-political circumstances that hindered our forefathers’ dreams, today we carry the moral authority as the only people that has been deprived of the opportunity to shed the colonial legacy and ideological divide of the 20th century.

The creation of the nation of our dreams will be a prerogative that the world would fully embrace and support. It would also address the fundamental political, social and economic issues plaguing the South and free the people in the North from bondage under the Kim regime. Unification will be a marriage made in Heaven since the very thing the ROK needs to maintain the Miracle on the Han is what the North has. It will provide an additional 25 million people who speak the same language and share the same culture while substantially increasing our workforce and our domestic consumer markets with young people that can fuel a second miracle.

This will be necessary to support the transition of our economy from a primarily export- driven to a balanced one. It would also provide tremendous opportunities in infrastructure as well as other developments, stimulating the stagnant construction industries in the South. It will provide a host of strategic rare earth minerals and other natural resources the South doesn’t have. In addition, it will open the peninsula up and connect it to the rest of Asia, sharing borders with China and Russia; thus, further stimulating trade and other opportunities.

Most importantly, it will unite our divided people and families that have suffered far too long. It will finally bring an end to the legacy of colonialism and the Cold War that led to our division and open a new era in the history of our people and civilization. For, the nation that arises out of the ashes of the past will be a model nation that marries the best of Korea with the modern world and be the inspiration for all developing nations in the southern hemisphere that have had a similar history. As the Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore prophesied in poetic prose: “In the Golden Age of Asia, Korea was one of the lamp-bearers, that lamp awaits to be lighted once again for the illumination of the East.”

That light is the Korean Dream, and the light-bearer will be our new nation aligned to our providential calling of “living for the benefit of humankind.”

Conclusion

Today, South Korea stands more divided than ever. The political machinations and scandals surrounding the impeachment of the former president are a national disgrace and are exacerbating that divide. The only movement that can unite the disparate factions of the ROK is AKU and the Korean Dream movement for unification.

That is why I propose that the current government: 1) adopt the Korean Dream vision since the former government already adopted its platform, 2) dissolve the Ministry of Unification and install a non-governmental advisory committee in order to take the politics out of the unification agenda, and 3) make the Korean Dream vision a mandatory curriculum in all primary and secondary schools.

The unification agenda can and will be the issue that brings Koreans together. I pray that this current regime will receive Heaven’s wisdom and seek to heal the fissures and wounds of our broken land.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is especially in times of crisis that we can see clearly the path we must take. We live at a historic crossroads in a time when the fate of the peninsula and our people lie in our hands. Today, we are celebrating the 80th anniversary of Korean liberation from Japanese rule. The number eight represents a “new beginning.” As a man of deep faith, I believe that divine providence is guiding us to undo the mistakes of the past and lead our people to the promised land of unification centered upon the Korean Dream.

We represent the Korean people on the peninsula and around the world. Unlike our ancestors who were shuttlecocks in the field of great power politics, we will not be trifled with and succumb to the whims of others. In line with the aspirations of our ancestors, we will spread the Korean Dream vision to every corner of this land as the Sam-Il movement did more than a hundred years ago. We will empower every Korean, in the North, South and Diaspora to be the owner of this dream and join us in realizing it together.

Those of you who pledge to stand with me to realize the Korean Dream rise and shout Aju. Aju. Aju.

May God bless you and your families.

“It is a moral imperative that we work, in whatever capacity we are able, to realize unification that embodies the aspirations of the 1919 independence movement and the hope of 1945—bringing closure to a division that has lingered from the last century.” —Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon

A participant shares her personal experience as the “next Korean miracle” begins to take shape at the International Forum on One Korea.

Have you ever witnessed a miracle?

I’m at the International Forum for One Korea.

If I counted, I would have to use two hands, maybe three to keep track of the number of times I heard that Korea is the place of miracles.

One in particular mentioned is the “Miracle of the Han River.”

In 50 years, from the end of the Korean War to the early 2000s, Korea went through unprecedented economic growth, technological development, and improvements in life expectancy and child mortality. By 2010, Korea entered the ranks of G20 nations. Today it is ranked number 13 among the economies of the world and is the only nation that has turned from an aid-recipient to an aid-giving nation.

My first time in Korea was a year after the Seoul Olympics in 1989. It was starkly different. Many of the skyscrapers that you see in Seoul today were either not even imagined or in the process of being built. The streets felt empty after the flurry of Olympic hype. I remember people selling leftover merch at subway entrances.

Today, I sat in one of the newer edifices, one of many that now line the Han River, hearing the call for the next Korean miracle.

Poetically, the forum was held in Yeido, an island nestled in the middle of the Han River and a financial and governing hub of Korea. Would I call it the start of the next Han River miracle?

Hon. Myung Su Lee commented on this serendipity, adding his observation that the Han River flows powerfully and peacefully because the waters run in the same direction.

What the Korean Dream movement, what Action for Korea United is doing, what Dr. Moon sparked when he wrote out the Korean Dream, is to set a point that allows us to look towards and move together.

I saw the power of a shared vision at work during the economic panel at the conference. As the panel of economists and scholars from diverse perspectives and approaches grappled with how possibly economic cooperation could contribute to reunification and regional peace, words were repeated—unity, humanity, peace, and vision. The situation in Korea is hard, the issues are complicated—the human rights crisis in North Korea, nuclear proliferation, the fraying social fabric, dropping birth rates and soaring unemployment in the South, but I learned that in crisis, you start by asking, “Where do we want to go?”

Dr. Moon outlined the “challenges,” that are set before Korea today: resolving the division of their homeland and rediscovering and reconnecting to their identity and destiny. It makes sense to start with fixing eyes upon a vision that speaks across time, that has propelled the Korean miracles to date. Dr. Moon is calling for such a sea change—but it takes each of us—yes, I’m getting behind the Korean Dream as well, to go in the same direction.

Korea is the land of miracles.

Hon. Seung Joo Baek, President of the War Memorial of Korea, listed a few:

• Regaining sovereignty at the close of World War II

• The unparalleled economic growth over the last 50 years,

• And the Miracle of democratization.

I think I am witnessing the next Korean Miracle—Miracle of the Han 2.0?—unfolding before my eyes. If the waters can flow together.

The original post appears on Global Peace Foundation. Global Peace Foundation is an international non-sectarian, non-partisan, nonprofit organization, which promotes an innovative, values-based approach to peacebuilding, guided by the vision of One Family under God. GPF engages and organizes a global network of public and private-sector partners who develop community, national, and regional peacebuilding models as the foundation for ethical and cohesive societies. Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon is the founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation.

On September 28, 2024, the Korean Dream Grand March 2024 became the largest ever civil society gathering organized at Imjingak Peace Park, which is located near the Demilitarized Zone that divides North and South Korea.

The Grand March and the International Forum on One Korea were both part of the ongoing Korean Dream 10 Million Campaign, which seeks to galvanize worldwide attention and support for the cause of a peaceful, free, and united One Korea. The culminating event of the campaign is planned for the 80th commemoration of the National Day of Liberation of Korea on August 15, 2025.

English and Korean media coverage of the events, which were held in commemoration of Korea’s Foundation Day, can be found in the links below:

Panel: North Korean policy should be centered on unification, not denuclearization

Citizens rally for Korean unification, show solidarity with Koreans in the North

Citizens rally near DMZ in support of Korean unification

Experts call for placing human rights at center of NK policy

Gov’t, civic groups, defectors unite for unification of 2 Koreas, global peace

Korean-language media coverage of the events:

[2024 코리안드림 통일실천대행진] “한반도 통일, 천만 시민의 꿈으로 만들자”

[원코리아 포럼] 한반도 평화·통일 ‘게임 체인저’…코리안 드림 외치다

[원코리아 포럼] “통일 위한 국제사회 지지…해외 동포 역할 절실”

[2024 코리안드림 통일실천대행진] 문현진 “우리가 코리안드림·평화통일의 주인…홍익인간 정신으로 통일 이루자”

[K스토리] 코리안드림천만캠페인 조직위 “시민의 힘으로 통일 이뤄야”

“북한은 감옥같아… 北 주민 의식주 넘어선 표현의 자유 누려야”

“통일을 시민의 힘으로”… 분단철책 에워싼 ‘3만여명의 굳센 염원’

2024 코리안드림 통일실천대행진 성료

[원코리아 포럼] “진실작전 통해 북한주민 변화 이끌어야”

[코리안드림 통일실천대행진]시민·탈북민 등 3만명 “통일 만세”…‘염원의 빛’ 드론 퍼포먼스로 대미

[원코리아 포럼] 문현진 의장 “국민 모두 ‘코리안 드림’ 주인”

[친절한 예인씨] 한반도의 평화와 통일을 위해! 2024 코리안드림 통일실천대행진 개최! #통일을실천하는사람들 | 행복한 아침 1457 회

“북한 주민, 외부 세계 많이 알아…진실 전파 더 노력해야”

[원코리아 포럼] “진실작전 통해 북한주민 변화 이끌어야”

The recent International Forum on One Korea, titled “Korean Dream: Vision and Pathway towards a Free and Unified Korea,” convened in Seoul on September 27, bringing together around 500 participants, including 180 leaders from over 30 countries. Mr. James Flynn, international president of the Global Peace Foundation, opened the forum by discussing the significance of recent global developments and the potential for breakthroughs toward a peaceful reunification centered on the comprehensive Korean Dream framework.

Welcoming remarks were given by leaders from Action for Korea United, the Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the National Assembly of the ROK. The forum featured experts in policy, North Korean escapees, and civil society leaders who emphasized the Korean Dream—an initiative aimed at achieving peaceful reunification while securing human rights for North Koreans and promoting regional security and prosperity.

Recalling a pivotal meeting last year among South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David, Mr. Flynn noted their commitment to supporting a unified and peaceful Korean peninsula. In a significant address on August 15, 2024, President Yoon underscored the importance of freedom and human rights as essential for unification, contrasting sharply with Kim Jong-un’s view of the two Koreas as separate, hostile entities.

A North Korean escapee was part of the opening plenary and called human rights the fundamental foundation for unification. She emphasized that genuine peace cannot be achieved without addressing the suffering of the North Korean people.

An emeritus professor at Renmin University of China explained the historical context of the division between North and South Korea, tracing it back to Cold War dynamics. He stressed the need to foster cultural understanding and shared values to move beyond politicized narratives. He remarked that China’s support for peaceful reunification remains unchanged despite North Korea’s recent policy shifts.

The chair of the North Korea Freedom Coalition criticized past policies for neglecting human rights, asserting the urgent need for reunification by May 2027 in light of escalating threats from the Kim regime. She expressed the need to communicate to North Koreans that they have allies who wish to share the benefits of freedom.

A senior scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy also joined the panel and echoed this call for a human rights-first approach. He argued that sidelining human rights in favor of nuclear negotiations has led to failure and called for a strategic shift that includes empowering North Koreans and utilizing all available tools of statecraft.

A former Mongolian Prime Minister emphasized that international collaboration and innovative solutions are essential to tackle the complexities of Korean reunification, which he believes will lead to prosperity and freedom for all. Another speaker pointed out that while the economic reconstruction of North Korea would be challenging, it could ultimately yield high returns on investment, especially given South Korea’s current economic strength.

Keynote speaker Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon, founder of the Global Peace Foundation, declared 2024 a crucial moment in Korean history, calling for a rekindling of the Korean identity rooted in the ideal of Hongik Ingan, which emphasizes living for the benefit of others.

“I go back to Korean history to remind the Korean people of who we are, what our providential mandate and destiny is. And that if we can rekindle that innate DNA within every single one of us, rooted in the Hongik Ingan ideal—that was the genesis of our history, our national character, our culture, our language, our national identity—then we can bring all the disparate factions of Korea together.”

Dr. Moon identified vision and spirituality as the primary foundation for a reunified Korea. “Foundational and fundamental to any grassroots movement is a vision,” explained Dr. Moon. “It’s a vision, a dream that can capture the imagination of every Korean to the point where they want to become the owner of that dream.”

As One Family under God, humankind shares a common origin and a clear basis for human rights. “Without the idea of God’s sovereignty, there are no human rights. There are no freedoms.”

The forum featured discussions on the role of the international community in achieving peaceful reunification, strategies for promoting human rights, and the economic opportunities that a united Korea could offer.

The International Forum on One Korea was organized alongside the 2024 Korean Dream Grand March, celebrating Korea’s National Foundation Day. This event mobilized civil society leaders and activists, aiming for a global campaign of 10 million supporters advocating for unification by 2025. The forum was a collaboration of the Global Peace Foundation, Action for Korea United, and the One Korea Foundation, among others, and was sponsored by the Ministry of Unification.

The original post appears on Global Peace Foundation. Global Peace Foundation is an international non-sectarian, non-partisan, nonprofit organization, which promotes an innovative, values-based approach to peacebuilding, guided by the vision of One Family under God. GPF engages and organizes a global network of public and private-sector partners who develop community, national, and regional peacebuilding models as the foundation for ethical and cohesive societies. Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon is the founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation.

United Press International covered the International Forum on One Korea held on September 27, 2024 in Seoul, Korea. A notable expert on the Korean peninsula noted an important strategic shift in U.S. policy, which had once been focused solely on the issue of denuclearization. You can read the original article on the UPI website here or here below:

By Darryl Coote

Sept. 27 (UPI) — The path to a denuclearized North Korea is through unification, according to a panel of peninsula policy experts.

Meeting in Seoul on Friday for the three-day International Forum on One Korea in Seoul, hosted by the Global Peace Foundation, a group of international experts discussed the potential for achieving a unified Korea.

David Maxwell, retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and Northeast Asian Security Affairs expert, began his speech by saying that the next U.S. president needs to adopt “a radical new North Korean policy,” calling for a shift from focusing on denuclearization to reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

“The only way to achieve a denuclearized Korean Peninsula,” Maxwell, the vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation, said, “is through unification — a unification that is led by the Korean people and supported by the international community.”

In Seoul for the three-day event, he added that though the previous approach over the last several decades of seeking denuclearization has produced little to no results while essentially ignoring the ultimate goal of reunification.

“For too long, our policies have focused on military deterrence, sanctions and diplomatic engagement. These are important, but they overlook a crucial element: a human rights upfront approach and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea,” he said.

Maxwell was quick to reaffirm his support of deterrence, pointing out that there have been recent successes in this regard, including the August 2023 security pacts signed by the leaders of the United States, South Korea and Japan, which express their countries’ support of “a unified Korean Peninsula that is free and at peace.”

Maxwell, a former military planner, said: “I would take those words of our presidents as something we should accomplish.”

And he added that though the task before them is daunting the current moment presents an opportunity to pursue unification from a human rights perspective.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un‘s abandonment this summer of unification as the nation’s goal, and turning ultimate blame on South Korea for its citizens’ suffering, has removed hope from those living in the North.

Now, Maxwell said, is the time for the United States and Japan, as well as civil society, to support South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s so-called 8.15 Unification Doctrine, he said.

“Our approach must prioritize human rights,” he said, stating that it is through Kim’s deprivation of human rights that he controls the North Korean people. “This is why our strategy must be built on exposing these abuses, on educating the Korean people in the North on their universal and unalienable human rights and empowering them to seek change.”

Kim Baek-san, president of the Global Peace Institute, similarly declared that the route to a denuclearized North Korea is a unified peninsula.

He said the previous decades-long pursuit of denuclearization has not worked and they cannot continue to make the same mistakes of its past.

Regime change in the North is needed, he said.

“Unless we change the regime itself, we cannot deal with the nuclear issue of North Korea. It’s about the system. It’s about human rights. It’s about freedom. It’s about the economy,” he said. “So we have to take a comprehensive approach to deal with all that matters; that should be our approach toward the nuclear issue in North Korea.”

A consensus on what reunification means needs to be established, he said, while suggesting Global Peace Foundation founder and chairman Hyun Jin Preston Moon’s vision for unification, known as the Korean Dream.

“The vision is first and foremost,” he said. “If we have a consensus on the vision … and then it will lead to unification itself.”

Lee Sung-yoon, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, added that the goal of unification is not simply about fulfilling a philosophical idea, but needed to save lives.

North Korea was richer than South Korea until the early 1970s and is the only urbanized, industrialized country to experience famine in peacetime, he said, referring to the famine of the early 1990s that killed millions of North Koreans.

Seoul, he said, has the “moral obligation” to inform its own people as well as the North Koreans and the people of the wider world of this “inhuman policy of mass starvation,” he said.

They need to educate the North Korean people on the root cause of their prolonged hunger and that once unification is affected, overnight they will have the basic, universal rights to food, housing and life.

“Lives will be saved,” he added.

He said those on the left of the political spectrum have been preaching the right to express and freedom of speech, but Lee was frank when he said during the panel that these are not important. They need to be given food, he said.

“Liberation and unification are not just esoteric dreams,” he said. “They will save lives.”

The Korea Times reported on the International Forum on One Korea held on September 27, 2024 in Seoul, Korea. In response to the North Korean government’s move away from Korean reunification, national and international experts called to continue to push for reunification while placing human rights at the center of North Korean policy.

Read the original coverage of the event on The Korea Times website or here below:

Experts call for placing human rights at center of NK policy

By Jung Min-ho

Reunifying the Korean Peninsula into one nation has always been a challenging mission. But over the past year, skepticism has grown to an unprecedented level. After the North Korean regime officially abandoned its goal of unification late last year, some politicians in the South have also joined increasing calls for “peaceful coexistence.”

During this year’s International Forum on One Korea, co-hosted by the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), Action for Korea United and One Korea Foundation, political leaders, security experts and human rights activists urged the government and people in the South to reject that shift, saying that permanent division on the peninsula betrays Korea’s founding vision and would not bring lasting peace.

“The fact that (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un abandoned unification, which was a key policy of both his father and grandfather, is an admission that he has already lost,” Hyun Jin Preston Moon, left, founder and chairman of the GPF, said at Friday’s event held in Seoul.

According to Moon, that decision was tantamount to abandoning the aspirations of modern Korea’s forefathers who led the independence movement from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule and those who established the nation under the founding value of “Hongik Ingan,” interpreted as “to benefit humanity widely.”

“Who’s carrying the torch of those aspirations and staying true to our 5,000-year history and the destiny of the Korean people (now)? It’s you,” he said, calling on the government to reform its unification ministry as a pan-government, nonpartisan entity for that critical task.

North Korea’s attempt to leave the peninsula divided will not be supported by any countries, not even China, one of its most important allies, according to Hao Su, professor emeritus at Renmin University of China.

“The Chinese government has always supported the policies for the peaceful reunification of the peninsula led by the people of the peninsula. North Korea’s recent policy changes will not affect China’s perception, nor will it change China’s stance of supporting the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

Dignitaries, including security scholars and human rights experts, pose during the International Forum on One Korea at a hotel in Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Global Peace Foundation

Dozens of prominent scholars and activists shared their insights and discussed ways to make the vision possible there. One thing they all agreed on was that prioritizing denuclearization of North Korea above the human rights of its people has achieved neither of the objectives.

“For 30 years, our North Korea policy has sacrificed human rights for the sake of addressing nuclear weapons. Both North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have thrived. Sidelining human rights to appease the regime is not the answer, but a fundamental flaw in policy. Our task is to turn this record of failure into success,” said Robert Joseph, a senior scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy and former special envoy for nuclear nonproliferation in the U.S.

Given that the greatest vulnerability of the Kim regime is from within, from the alienation of its own people who suffer under its totalitarian repression, Joseph suggested placing human rights and a comprehensive information campaign at the center of a new strategy for North Korea.

His view was echoed by Suzanne Scholte, a U.S. rights activist and chief of the North Korean Freedom Coalition.

“Today, the people of North Korea are far more informed about the outside world than ever before. It is precisely why Kim Jong-un is using such draconian measures to isolate them from the outside world: It is the only way he can stay in power,” Scholte said. “He is terrified that he is losing control over their minds, which will mean the end of this triple family dictatorship.”

What those experts suggest is to maximize the international efforts to let ordinary people in North Korea know what the whole world already knows — the reality of their terrible human rights situation, the incompetence of their leaders and the world outside their borders.

David Maxwell, a GPF senior fellow and vice president at the Washington-based Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, said such efforts matter not just for the country’s peaceful unification but also for another important mission of creating a new Korea.

One of the subjects addressed during the forum was the economic cost of unification, which is one of the major reasons for growing skepticism, particularly among young South Koreans.

According to Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist, such worries are vastly overblown.

“First: the economic reconstruction of northern Korea will be an immense project — but if the returns on investment in this project are high, the project can basically pay for itself in the long run,” he said. “Second, thanks to generations of market-led modern development, both South Korea and the world as a whole are richer and more productive than ever before — better poised to mobilize and deploy the immense amounts of capital and know-how a successful Korean reunification will surely require.”

If reunification suddenly occurred today, the newly reunified Korean Peninsula would count as a fairly affluent country, he noted.

Rough calculations indicate that overall wealth per adult for a reunified Korea would be over $150,000 today, he added — about the same level as in much of Southern Europe.

“None of this will be easy of course — but all of it is surely doable,” Eberstadt said. “But Korean reunification is ‘unthinkable’ only if we fail to think about it.”

A unified Korea in which the vision of the Korean Dream is given practical expression will be a new nation of high ideals. It will be a powerful witness to the fundamental principles expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence as well as be deeply rooted in its own historic cultural identity. In short, it will draw on the best lessons from the West while also looking to the ancient wisdom of Asia for new insights into the 21st century.

Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon

International Forum on One Korea, Seoul, October 2023

The unification of the Korean peninsula continues to build momentum on the international stage, inspiring collaboration between nations in the interest of regional and worldwide security. The United States, Japan, and Republic of Korea declared a trilateral partnership in August 2023 in which the governments expressed their commitment to fostering peace in the Indo-Pacific region and a unified Korea. Their joint statement declared, “We express support for the goal of the ROK’s Audacious Initiative and support a unified Korean Peninsula that is free and at peace.”

Korean reunification is not a new concept. The Korean people living in both the North and South have long lived through the pain of separation. The Korean Dream of a free and unified Korea that can benefit the region and world has been at the forefront of Dr. Hyun Jin P. Moon’s work for decades. The movement continues to build as world leaders recognize that peaceful reunification is essential to security and is being regarded by many policymakers as the best path forward.

This and more was discussed at the most recent International Forum on One Korea 2024 in Washington D.C. on June 6, 2024, organized by Global Peace Foundation (GPF). President of GPF, James Flynn, opened the forum by saying, “The power of ideas enables us to look beyond the way things are and to see totally different possibilities.” To this end, thought leaders from the U.S. participated in the discussion to develop a comprehensive U.S. strategy for a free and unified Korea centered on two key topics: the economic benefits of unification and the path forward to support the quest for change and peaceful unification through the lens of human rights and information sharing.

Esteemed speakers included a U.S. congressman and representatives from the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, American Enterprise Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, Northeast Asia Economics and Intelligence Advisory, International Council on Korean Studies, and Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, among others.

In the first panel, “Economic Considerations: Opportunities from Korean Unification,” speakers agreed that South Korea must be the driving catalyst for unification with support from the international community and institutions. One speaker stated that a free and unified Korea would benefit the world economy. He cautioned that if unification is to drive economic development, North Korea must be given the opportunity to develop its own companies rather than having outside companies forced upon it. Nevertheless, the panel concurred that now is the best time for unification, with human rights brought to the forefront.

“Operationalizing Government and Citizen Support for Korean Unification – Challenges – How to Create Conditions for Change in North Korea,” was the forum’s second panel discussion. Speakers highlighted transforming the region by addressing the human rights crisis in North Korea and focusing on getting information to the isolated people of North Korea.

One ambassador acknowledged that economic, political, military, and diplomatic dimensions are important to bringing peaceful reunification to the peninsula; however, upfront attention to human rights is the key to unification.

The Capitol Policy Forum: U.S. Support for a Free and Unified Korea highlighted the economic benefits associated with the unification of North Korea and South Korea. While unification will not be an easy task, it can be achieved through preparation, global support, information sharing, and a fervent desire to end human rights abuse in North Korea. The forum moderator, an American, adamantly stated that the international community must support the Korean people. He described all people as member of the same human family and therefore have a responsibility to help the peninsula and fulfill the Korean Dream together.

Read the full article on Global Peace Foundation. Global Peace Foundation is an international non-sectarian, non-partisan, nonprofit organization, which promotes an innovative, values-based approach to peacebuilding, guided by the vision of One Family under God.  GPF engages and organizes a global network of public and private-sector partners who develop community, national, and regional peacebuilding models as the foundation for ethical and cohesive societies. Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon is the founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation.

The following is an unofficial translation of excerpts from the special, which was written by Hye-Yeon Jung. This section was focused on the 2023 International Forum on One Korea held in Seoul, Korea.

North Korea’s nuclear tests and the possibility of a new Cold War have raised tensions on the Korean Peninsula to an unprecedented level. The hegemonic rivalry between the U.S. and China continues with the Trump Administration’s March 2018 trade war with China, which began with the Trump Administration in March 2018. Still, the policies have continued to impact relations well into the Biden Administration.

In the meantime, North Korea and Russia held a summit on September 12th and began close military cooperation. The Russian-Ukrainian war, which broke out in February 2022, only added to the geopolitical divides. This has resulted in the stance that “The fervor for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula, both domestically and internationally, has stalled.”

In response, the Global Peace Foundation (GFP), Action for Korea United (AKU), and the One Korea Foundation held the 2023 One Korea International Forum on One Korea on October 2nd, 2023.  The AKU Professors Association, Alliance for Korea United USA, Blue Banner, and the Asia Research Institute supported and participated in the forum. The International Forum on One Korea was founded in July 2016 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. The first forum was held in July 2016 as an international forum on trade and the Korean Peninsula, and it has since been held for eight consecutive years, a total of 15 times.

The forum has also continued to make policy recommendations, including arguing that the top priority for policy on the Korean Peninsula should be revised to prioritize peaceful reunification over a singular focus on denuclearization. The forum was held in the Fairmont Ambassador Hotel Grand Ballroom in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, where experts convened to discuss these and other opinions.

The experts focused mainly on the Camp David Summit. This Summit was attended by President Seok Yul Yoon, U.S. President Joe Biden, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on August 18, 2023, at Camp David, the U.S. presidential residence near Washington, DC. During the Summit, they declared, “We support a free, peaceful, and unified Korean Peninsula.” Forum participants highlighted the significance of this declaration and the need for a strategic roadmap for a unified Korean Peninsula. They also covered issues related to the reunification of the Korean Peninsula, such as peace, security, and a unified economy. An event organizer noted, “It is significant that this forum was held after the Camp David Summit.”

In the first session, the GPF Chairman, Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, the GPF International President, Jim Flynn, National Assembly Speaker Jin Pyo Kim, National Assembly Member Myoung Su Lee, and National Assembly Member Dong Su Seok delivered opening remarks.

Others at the forum included Mr. Jin Pyo Kim, Speaker of the National Assembly; Mr. Myoung Su Lee, Member of the National Assembly; Mr. Dong Hyeon Seok, Secretary General of the ROK Peaceful Unification Advisory Council; Mr. Edwin Feulner, founder and former president of Heritage Foundation; Seung Ju Paik, Chairman of the War Memorial Association (former Deputy Secretary of Defense); Four-star General (Ret.) John Harold Tilelli Jr. (Chairman of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation), and more than 100 others. The five-hour forum was highlighted by notable and keynote speeches. You can watch the event on YouTube’s “Action for Korea United” channel.

The forum was held under the theme “Free and Unified Korea: A Catalyst for Regional and Global Peace and Development.”

Realizing Korean Identity: A Providential Mandate

In his opening remarks, Chairman Chung Hwan Kim observed, “We must discuss a new direction for peace in Northeast Asia and the world based on the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. President Jim Flynn emphasized, “This forum is held amid this incredibly complex international situation, including the North Korean nuclear issue, which points to the critical importance of this forum.”

In his congratulatory remarks, Chairman Jin Pyo Kim noted, “In the past, President Dae-Jung Kim emphasized that our destiny depends on diplomacy and international cooperation so that peace can be established on the Korean Peninsula.”

Representative Myoung Su Lee said, “I hope that through discussions at this forum, we can solve our international security challenges while simultaneously creating the opportunity to advance a new flow of history.” He said, “The Korean Dream is the only alternative to achieving both peace on the Korean Peninsula and global peace.”

Mr. Dong Hyeon Seok, Secretary General of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, declared, “To realize the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula, we need the support and cooperation of not only the governments of North and South Korea but also the international community. In the private sector, we also require the efforts and enthusiasm of scholars, experts, and civil society activists.”

In his video congratulatory remarks, Edwin Feulner, founder of the Heritage Foundation, said, “In an increasingly turbulent international political situation, this forum is very significant.”

Following the opening ceremony, in the Plenary Session, Mr. Seung Ju Baek, Chairman of the War Memorial Association of Korea, observed, “We need to be wary of discussing the obstacles to unification,” he said. “There are some who raise concerns that: “If unification happens, we will be worse off” or “it will lead to instability,” “Unification will be difficult because neighboring countries oppose it” And, “It will cost a lot of money in the process of unification.” These ideas have led to an anti-unification sentiment. We must and can overcome this focus on the obstacles to unification,” he said. “This forum and the AKU Movement will play a crucial role in dispelling this narrative.”

‘Korean Dream’ is the Key to Realizing Korean Unification

Next, GPF Chairman Dr. Hyun Jin Moon delivered the keynote speech. In it, he said, “Koreans today have two major, interconnected challenges. One is the re-unification of our traditional homeland. The second challenge is for free Koreans to rediscover their Korean identity and reconnect with the destiny we are called to achieve.” He explained that the second challenge was the “precondition for overcoming the first challenge.” [Noting that Koreans are part of one family,] he asked, “How can we enjoy the blessings of prosperity when our brothers and sisters suffer?”

Dr. Moon also spoke about how he came to start the Korean Dream Movement. He shared,

I launched the Korean Dream movement to offer a vision for the present age that connects with Korea’s founding ideals, manifested in the noble aspirations and sacrifice of the Sam Il Independence movement.

Reunification based on the Korean Dream framework will restore basic human rights and freedoms to the DPRK and bring peace and security to the Peninsula. In addition, it will create long-term economic benefits. A dream needs a movement of committed, united people to become a reality. Action for Korea United is where such people are gathered together.

This forum and tomorrow’s public rally are the first stages of a campaign to spread the Korean Dream among the Korean people everywhere. It will culminate in 2025, on they of Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule, when our people—for the first time— 80th anniversarcould fulfill the Sam Il aspirations of creating an ideal nation in line with Hong-Ik Ingan.

The Korean Dream can unite all Koreans. It is where we will find and fulfill the unique national destiny to which we are all called as a people. This goal needs the support of dedicated activists and thought leaders such as yourselves. I urge you to become the true owners of the Korean Dream.

One Korea Forum Concludes 2023 Global Peace Convention Track on Peace, Security and Human Rights

Since its founding in 2009, the Global Peace Foundation has advanced an approach to reunification that empowers the Korean people, brings focus to the human rights abuses and security threats posed by the North Korean regime, and sets forth a vision of a free, united, and prosperous Korea that reflects the Korean people’s shared history, values, and traditions.

GPF has hosted dozens of International Forums on One Korea, convened in the ROK National Assembly, the U.S. Congress, the Great Hurl in Mongolia, and capital cities in Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

GPF has also organized rallies, K-pop concerts, seminars, and working groups in Korea and globally to build grassroots support for reunification.

The International Forum on One Korea on December 12, hosted as part of the 2023 Global Peace Convention in Manila, marked the conclusion of previous sessions on Korean security and human rights issues hosted virtually in November and December.

Jose Luis Yulo Jr., president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands

Addressing the International Forum in Manila, Jose Luis Yulo Jr., president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands and former president and CEO of the Philippine Stock Exchange, brought attention to the convergence of ideas in three recent publications: the 2014 book Korean Dream: Vision for a Unified Korea by GPF Chairman Dr. Hyun Jin P. Moon; 2030: One World, One Community, One Family, by the former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos; and “Five Pillars for Navigating the Future,” a recent pamphlet by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce.

“They all agree that unity, freedom and peace are the precursors of economic development,” he said. Can peace or economic development exist without freedom? Spiritual well-being, emotional well-being, health well-being, mental well-being, and finally material well-being—economic development—can all happen if we have unity, freedom, and peace.”

Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute

Economic prospects of reunification

Addressing the stark failure of the North Korean regime to minimally manage its economy and the many misconceptions relating to the economic burdens of reunification, Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, said North Korea ranks among the biggest economic losers in the post-war era.

North Korea, he said, is now subsisting on unreported barter, economic piracy, aid capturing, and Hobbesian entrepreneurship. “Should we really be surprised that the government with the world’s worst practices and policies also had the worst economic results in the world? Business climate matters.”

Answering the many daunting projections about the costs and burdens of reunification, Dr. Eberstadt presented an in-depth analysis of the economic implications of reunification, which he summarized in four points:

First, the longer reunification is postponed, the wider the gap between north and south, the bigger the task and the longer it will take. Second, North Korea’s present poverty is the entirely predictable consequence of three generations of extraordinary misrule by a worst-in-class dictatorship. Third, the economic reconstruction of Northern Korea will be an immense project. But if the returns on investment in this project are high, the project can basically pay for itself in the long run. And fourth, thanks to generation after generation of market-led modern economic development, both South Korea and the world as a whole are richer and more productive than ever before, better poised to mobilize and deploy the immense amounts of capital and know-how a successful Korean reunification will require.

Dr. Chong-Soo Park, former chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation Through Economic Development

Dr. Chong-Soo Park, former chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation Through Economic Development, warned that unification reached without preparation will become a disaster.

He said he proposed creating an international free-economic zone on the North Korea, China, and Russian border, which the United Nations had supported since 1991. All three countries have support this initiative, but western countries have largely been absent. He urged the UN to take an active role in supporting wider participation in such an economic zone. “Such an initiative can support the role of the UN and restore peace not only in Northeast Asia but also in the world,” Dr. Park said.

A new Korean nation

GPF Chairman Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, addressing the forum extemporaneously, reflected on the ideals of the 1919 Korean Independence Movement that established a precedent for freedom and self-determination of colonized peoples in the twentieth century. He said those ideals, based on the traditional Korean ethos of Hongik Ingan, or “living for the benefit of humanity,” were especially relevant today, “where the world is fragmenting into its own little spheres, dredging up old animosities, hatred, bitterness, a sense of victimized and victimizers.”

GPF Chairman Dr. Hyun Jin P. Moon

He also questioned the assumptions of the unification paradigm of a modern, cosmopolitan South absorbing the impoverished, soul-crushing North.

“I beg to differ in terms of the reality of the South,” he said. The Korean economy and its social demographics, and the chaebol system [of family-owned conglomerates] that stifles innovation, is not sustainable, the GPF chairman said. South Korea has the highest unemployment rate among the developed nations, he noted. With one of the best educated, most highly sophisticated and technical workforces, it reflects the weakness of the current system.

“That is why I was never a proponent of South Korea eating up North Korea and bringing it under the South Korean fold,” Dr. Moon remarked. “No, the Korean Dream unification framework is the creation of a new nation because we recognize, with eyes open, that both systems are flawed; and that we as Koreans, if we have a dream that we can share and dream together, can really create a new nation that is better than the sum of the two parts. That is what the Korean dream is about.”

The International Forum on One Korea was co-convened by the Global Peace Foundation, the One Korea Foundation. Blue Banner, Action for Korea United, and the Asia Institute.

The Global Peace Convention is a bi-annual convening of the Global Peace Foundation. Peace and Security was among eight tracks presented virtually and in-person from November 1-December 14, concluding with an in-person convening in Manila, the Philippines.

Learn more about the 2023 Global Peace Convention and GPF’s One Korea Global Campaign.