UPI Reports “North Korean policy should be centered on unification, not denuclearization”

Global Peace Foundation
October 4, 2024

The following is an excerpt from an article by Darryl Coote for UPI. Some 500 participants joined the International Forum on One Korea in person and online on September 27, where experts in policy, North Korean escapees, civil society leaders, and other visionaries for a united Korea highlighted the Korean Dream, a vision for peaceful Korean-led reunification of the peninsula that will secure human rights for the North Korean people and promote security and economic prosperity in the region.


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.”

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