Korea's New Edition of the Unification White Paper: Emphasizes Peaceful Coexistence, Does Not Mention Guiding Changes in North Korea
According to Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean government released the 2026 edition of the "Unification White Paper" on May 18, emphasizing "peaceful coexistence" and omitting any mention of "guiding changes in North Korea."
On the same day, the Ministry of Unification issued the "2026 Unification White Paper: Record of Peaceful Coexistence on the Korean Peninsula in 2025," stating that the white paper reflects the government's intention to build a peaceful coexistence relationship between South and North Korea.
This is the first white paper released since the inauguration of President Lee Jae-myung’s administration, with content markedly different from previous governments. During the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, earlier white papers emphasized guiding change in North Korea through pressure tactics and information dissemination. In contrast, the new white paper outlines three core principles in its first chapter, "Policies for Peaceful Coexistence on the Korean Peninsula": respecting North Korea’s system, not pursuing absorption-based unification, and refraining from hostile actions. It also states that the government has formulated policies aimed at promoting peaceful coexistence and common development on the Korean Peninsula.
The white paper further proposes advancing the restoration of the validity of the September 19 Military Agreement to alleviate military tensions between South and North Korea and to lay a institutional foundation for achieving peaceful coexistence.
By word frequency analysis, under the government’s policy direction toward peaceful coexistence between South and North Korea, the terms "peace" and "peaceful coexistence" increased dramatically from 29 occurrences last year to 196 this year, while the frequencies of "unification" and "peaceful unification" dropped significantly from 457 to 263.
Source: sputniknews
Original: toutiao.com/article/1865509756786695/
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