Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul), the Graduate School of Global Peace & Unification, and Future Korean Institute will host an academic event titled “Prospects for Inter-Korean Relations in 2026 and Tasks for Peace on the Korean Peninsula” on Friday, January 16, starting at 2:00 PM in Room 106 of the College of Law at Kookmin University.

This event is designed to forecast the direction of inter-Korean relations in 2026 and explore practical challenges and policy alternatives for peace on the Korean Peninsula, amidst increasing uncertainty in the international order and the security environment on the Korean Peninsula.

The event will begin with an opening address by Kim Hyoung Jin, Dean of Kookmin University's Graduate School of Global Peace & Unification. Following this, a panel discussion will feature a keynote lecture by former Foreign Minister Song Min-soon (former President of the Graduate School of North Korean Studies) on the topic “Examining the Correlation Between Security and Unification on the Korean Peninsula.”

In his lecture, former Minister Song Min Soon will analyze the structural challenges facing the Korean Peninsula, highlighting the weakening of the norms-based international order and the rise of a “sphere of influence order” dominated by the logic of power as key underlying factors. He will trace the trend of instability in the Northeast Asian order, driven by the US's unilateralism and isolationist tendencies, China's Sinocentrism and expanding influence, Japan's increased security role, and the quasi-alliance between Russia and North Korea alongside the strengthening solidarity among North Korea, China, and Russia. It will particularly emphasize that inter-Korean relations and unification issues are strategic tasks closely interlinked with changes in the international order. This focus centers on North Korea's strategic shift as an established nuclear state, its “hostile two-state” policy, and the qualitative transformation of the North Korean issue, now distinguished as “pre-nuclear” and “post-nuclear.”

The expert roundtable will be chaired by Professor Kim Joo Hyun (Special Professor at Kookmin University's Graduate School of Global Peace & Unification and inaugural Director of Future Korean Institute) and will feature experts in unification, security, and diplomacy discussing key issues in inter-Korean relations and unification policy from multiple perspectives.

The subsequent discussion and roundtable session, chaired by Vice President Yeo Hyun Chul (Kookmin University Graduate School of Global Peace & Unification and the Future Korean Institute), will feature a comprehensive debate centered on the social role and practical measures for achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The organizers stated, “This event will serve as a forum for public discourse that goes beyond short-term prospects for inter-Korean relations to seek policy and societal solutions for sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula,” adding, “We anticipate meaningful discussions involving academia, policy practitioners, the media, and civil society.”