The Korean unification issue: An update after Kim Jong Un's policy reversal

In two major speeches in December 2023 and January 2024, Kim Jong Un announced a radically new perspective on the status of South Korea and on the principles of national unification that had been established by Kim Il Sung in 1972. These have formed the foundation for North Korea's approach to unification for over half a century. In this talk, the following questions will be discussed: What are the implications of this new policy for the likelihood and the process of Korean unification? What might have driven this radical departure from orthodoxy? Who is going to benefit? How do we researchers react to the new situation?

Speaker: Ruediger Frank is Professor of East Asian Economy and Society, and the Director of the European Centre for North Korean Studies at the University of Vienna. Currently visiting Australia, Professor Frank is one of the world's foremost experts on North Korea's politics and economics. This is his only talk in Canberra.

This event is in-person only.