PUAC, Yonhap News Agency to host global forum on unification this week

▲ This promotional image, provided by the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, shows information on the two-day Global Dialogue on Korean Peninsula Unification forum set to be held from Nov. 23-24, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This image, provided by the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, shows the logo of the presidential consultative body established to draw up policies on democratic and peaceful unification. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Yonhap News Agency-unification forum

PUAC, Yonhap News Agency to host global forum on unification this week

SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- The Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (PUAC) and Yonhap News Agency will co-host a forum this week to assess the environment for unification and discuss international cooperation amid North Korea's evolving threats and other global security issues.

The two-day event will take place at Grand Walkerhill Seoul hotel on Thursday and Friday under the main theme of "International cooperation aiming to realize freedom, peace, and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula," bringing together former key government officials and security experts.

PUAC is a presidential consultative body established to draw up policies on democratic and peaceful unification.

The inaugural Global Dialogue on Korean Peninsula Unification comes as part of efforts to seek international cooperation amid North Korea's evolving missile and nuclear threats as well as a prolonged war in Ukraine and the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict.

The first day of the forum will consist of closed-door discussions by experts on themes including public diplomacy on unification and North Korea's political situation.

The second day of the event will bring together speakers such as Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at Hudson Institute, Lee Che-chuan, research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taiwan, Georgy Toloraya, director of the Center for Asian Strategy at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Ken Endo, a professor at the University of Tokyo.

The second-day sessions will kick off with speeches by Kim Kwan-yong, executive vice chairperson of PUAC, Seong Ghi-hong, CEO and president of Yonhap News Agency, and Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho. Hyun In-taek, chief of the Korea Defense Security Forum and former unification minister, will deliver a keynote address.

The second-day sessions -- organized under the themes of "Freedom, Peace, and Prosperity of Korean Peninsula: Vision and Strategy," "Democracy, Freedom, and Human Rights in North Korea" and "Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Future of Korean Peninsula" -- will be livestreamed via YouTube on PUAC's official channel.

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