South Korea’s unification plan ignores domestic and regional realities

South Koreans hold a central position in the proposed plan. Yoon said the people must possess the values and capabilities needed to pursue freedom-based unification. He also talked about possible people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

However, such a policy would require bipartisan support and a domestic consensus. On the political front, however, South Korea represents more of a “house divided” than united. This political divide between the ruling People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea (which leads the opposition) was most clearly visible in the two separate ceremonies held on National Liberation Day.

While Yoon has denounced his political rivals, calling them “pseudo-intellectuals” and “anti-unification forces” who attack the values of freedom, the opposition has expressed anger at the government’s attempts to “distort history” and criticised the influx of the “new right” into key positions.

Any model which seeks to further the idea of a unified Korea must have strong political consensus across the board, something which seems to be missing for the Yoon administration.

Moreover, public support for a unified peninsula is undergoing a steady decline. According to a Korea Institute for National Unification survey, 52.9 per cent of respondents said they believed unification was necessary, the lowest figure since 2020.

A larger cause for concern for the Yoon administration may well be the indifference of millennials towards the unification cause, with only 46.5 per cent of survey respondents viewing it as a necessity. Although Yoon has attempted to clarify his intentions about instilling values that are conducive to unification, the road ahead appears long and arduous.

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