창작과 비평

The Quarterly Changbi 180, Summer 2018

Abstract

Lee Jung-chul examines the significance of the historical "Panmunjeom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula" from various perspectives. He emphasizes that "the parallel advancement", the simultaneous project for denuclearization and peace treaty, contains an essential requirement to break through the current political situation, and envisions what our diplomacy for reunification should be like in order to establish a peace system on the Korean peninsula. In this context, he appreciates Moon Jae-in administration's effort to put the president himself in the “driver’s seat,” to defuse the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear program, and to make "progress in the relationship between inter-Koreas and the balanced progress among the four super-powers". Most importantly, the declaration heralds the inauguration of the new era in which we, the Koreans, can imagine and step into the future.