The history of South Korea begins with the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945. At that time, South Korea and North Korea were divided, despite being the same people and on the same peninsula. In 1950, the Korean War broke out. North Korea overran South Korea until US-lead UN forces intervened. At the end of the war in 1953, the border between South and North remained largely similar. Tensions between the two sides continued. South Korea alternated between dictatorship and liberal democracy. It underwent substantial economic development.
Korean reunification is the aspired unification of North Korea and South Korea into a singular Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification of the peninsula while still maintaining two opposing regimes was started by the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration in June 2000, was reaffirmed by the October 4th Declaration in October 2007 and the Panmunjom Declaration in April 2018, and the joint statement of United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Singapore Summit in June 2018. In the Panmunjom Declaration, the two countries agreed to work to officially end the Korean conflict in the future.
The Korean conflict is an ongoing conflict based on the division of Korea between North Korea and South Korea, both of which claim to be the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. During the Cold War, North Korea was backed by the Soviet Union, China, and other allies, while South Korea was backed by the United States, United Kingdom, and other Western allies.
The Sunshine Policy is one of the approaches for South Korea's foreign policy towards North Korea.
Michel Camdessus is a French economist who served as the seventh managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1987 to 2000, the longest serving in that position. He previously served as the Governor of the Banque de France from 1984 to 1987. Before that, he briefly served as deputy governor of the Banque de France from August until November 1984 when elevated to the top position.
The Fourth Republic of Korea was the government of South Korea from November 1972 to March 1981.
Jeong Se-hyun is a South Korean politician who served as an Unification Minister under two consecutive presidents from 2002 to 2004.
The Ministry of Unification is an executive department of the South Korean government aimed at promoting Korean reunification. It was first established in 1969 as the National Unification Board, under the rule of Park Chung Hee. It gained its current status in 1998 and has played a major role in promoting inter-Korean dialogues, exchanges and cooperation.
Formerly a single nation that was annexed by Japan in 1910, the Korean Peninsula has been divided into North Korea and South Korea since the end of World War II on 2 September 1945. The two governments were founded in the two regions in 1948, leading to the consolidation of division. The two countries engaged in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 which ended in an armistice agreement but without a peace treaty. North Korea is a one-party totalitarian state run by the Kim family. South Korea was formerly governed by a succession of military dictatorships, save for a brief one-year democratic period from 1960 to 1961, until thorough democratization in 1987, after which direct elections were held. Both nations claim the entire Korean Peninsula and outlying islands. Both nations joined the United Nations in 1991 and are recognized by most member states. Since the 1970s, both nations have held informal diplomatic dialogues in order to ease military tensions.
Inter-Korean summits are meetings between the leaders of North and South Korea. To date, there have been five such meetings so far, three of them being in Pyongyang, with another two in Panmunjom. The importance of these summits lies in the lack of formal communication between North and South Korea, which makes discussing political and economic issues difficult. The summits' agendas have included topics such as the ending of the 1950-53 war, the massive deployment of troops at the DMZ, the development of nuclear weapons by North Korea, and human rights issues.
Andrea Riccardi is an Italian historian, professor, politician and activist, founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio. He served as minister for international cooperation without portfolio in the Monti Cabinet.
Moon Jae-in is a South Korean retired politician who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs and Chief of Staff to President Roh Moo-hyun, Member of the National Assembly, and Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.
The July 4 South–North Joint Statement, also known as the July 4 South–North Joint Communiqué, was the first joint statement by the governments of South Korea and North Korea, signed on July 4, 1972. The signatories of the statement were Lee Hu-rak and Kim Yong-ju, who represented the delegations from the south and north, respectively.
2000 inter-Korean summit was a meeting between South Korean president Kim Dae-jung and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-il, which took place in Pyongyang from June 13 to June 15, 2000. It was the first inter-Korean summit since the Korean War 1950-1953.
The 2007 Inter-Korean summit meeting was held between October 2 and October 4, 2007, in Pyongyang, between President Roh Moo-hyun of the Republic of Korea and Kim Jong Il of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). It is the second Inter-Korean summit following the 2000 inter-Korean summit. It is also called the 10.4 Inter-Korean summit. As a result of the talks, both sides announced a declaration for the development of inter-Korean relations and peace and prosperity.
The April 2018 inter-Korean summit took place on 27 April 2018 on the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area, between Moon Jae-in, President of South Korea, and Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and Supreme Leader of North Korea. The summit was the third inter-Korean summit - the first in eleven years. It was also the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953 that a North Korean leader entered the South's territory; President Moon also briefly crossed into the North's territory.
The Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula was adopted between the President of the Republic of Korea (ROK), Moon Jae-in and the President of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong Un, on 27 April 2018, during the 2018 inter-Korean Summit on the South Korean side of the Peace House in the Joint Security Area.
The Peace Treaty on Korean Peninsula is a proposed settlement to formally end military hostilities on the Korean Peninsula as a follow-up to the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement implemented by the United Nations after the Korean War. During the inter-Korean summit on April 27, 2018, Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in signed the Panmunjom Declaration; the declaration involved an agreement about mutual efforts and action items for transforming the armistice agreement into a peace treaty with the cooperation of the United States and China. During the 2018 Trump–Kim summit, US president Donald Trump and Kim signed a Joint Statement which reaffirmed the Panmunjom Declaration. On November 23, 2023, North Korea terminated its 2018 agreement with South Korea.
The United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea is a department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) tasked with relations with South Korea. It conducts propaganda operations and espionage and manages front organizations, including the Chongryon.
Kim Yeon-chul is a South Korean associate professor of unification at Inje University who served as Minister of Unification under President Moon Jae-in from April 2019 to June 2020.
