hankyoreh

Chairman of the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture Moon Chung-in (center and right) speaks with former US special envoy for the North Korean nuclear issue Robert Gallucci on Wednesday at the 17th Hankyoreh-Busan International Symposium held at Westin Josun Busan Hotel in Busan’s Haeundae District. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

The 17th Hankyoreh-Busan International Symposium, organized under the title “Reflection and Innovation for Sustainable Peace on the Korean Peninsula,” kicked off Wednesday at the Westin Josun Busan Hotel in Busan’s Haeundae District.

The two-day event is jointly organized by Busan Metropolitan City and the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture. Participants focused their attention on examining why the progress seemingly made with peace on the peninsula has been repeatedly frustrated, while exploring avenues for future change.

Robert Gallucci, a former US State Department special envoy on the North Korean nuclear issue, took part via videoconference to deliver a keynote presentation and take part in a special conversation with Moon Chung-in, chairman of the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture.

In his remarks, Gallucci described the last 30 years of US policy on North Korea as a failure, adding that the US’ insistence on North Korea’s complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization was realistically unfeasible.

He also stressed the need for the US to understand North Korea’s motives for developing nuclear weapons and to pursue negotiations with patience.

Moon attributed the failure of the US’ North Korea policies to a “failure to properly motivate North Korea.”

“The assumption in Washington that North Korea ‘possesses nuclear weapons for the purpose of a communist reunification [of the Korean Peninsula] is a faulty analysis,” he said.

In a welcome address Wednesday, Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon said he looked forward to the symposium as “an occasion for seeking out ideas for Busan to play a role in and work together on peace and shared prosperity as a base for Eurasian cooperation and business, while focusing attention on the bid for Busan to host the Expo 2030 world fair.”

In a congratulatory address, South Korean Minister of Unification Lee In-young referred to a declaration officially ending the Korean War as a “wise solution that would be both a driving force for real peace on the Korean Peninsula and a catalyst for dialogue among South and North Korea and the US.”

Sin Sang-hae, chairperson of the Busan Metropolitan Council, stressed that peace on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia was a “matter of intense interest for Busan, which has lofty dreams of serving as a gateway to the Eurasian continent.”

In a congratulatory address, CEO of the Hankyoreh newspaper Kim Hyun-dae said that the newspaper would “open up a forum for public discussion toward a world of peace.”

The first session of the symposium that day focused on the topic “Trio of Discontent: Why Peace Hasn’t Come to the Korean Peninsula.” It featured presentations by Li Tingting, professor at Peking University; Chin Hee-gwan, professor at Inje University; and Jenny Town, director of the 38 North website.

The symposium’s second session focused on the topic “A Triangle of Hope: How to Achieve Peace on the Korean Peninsula.” Participants included co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies John Feffer and Suh Jae-jung, professor of political science and international relations at the International Christian University in Tokyo.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

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