Korean Ministry of Unification (Tongil)

Seoul National University has revealed plans to expand upon its SNU Reunification Education Project by spending a total of KRW 3.6 billion over the course of four years. According to the recent announcement, the administration aims to integrate reunification education into the curriculum of both undergraduate and graduate programs.

There are four major aspects to the SNU Reunification Education Project. Firstly, the administration targets to increase the number of students signed up for such courses by 10% each year. Secondly, SNU will establish a new combined Masters and PhD program in Reunification and Peace studies. Thirdly, SNU will conduct a yearly survey on students’ opinions on reunification and lastly, the project will not only target Korean students but also the SNU international community.

SNU aims to realize the four goals by incorporating reunification education in each of the independent college’s major courses. The administration hopes to teach reunification in conjunction with each specific discipline. For example, instead of simply providing courses solely on the topic such as Introduction to North Korean Studies, major courses such as Modern Economic History will include material on North Korea and reunification. However, there are also plans to augment the existing list of courses on reunification and the courses will be divided into three topics: unification of people, unification of policy and unification of infrastructure. For example, courses under unification of infrastructure will focus on North Korean administrative systems such as its framework for agriculture.

Furthermore, in addition to a new combined Masters and PhD program, the administration also plans to introduce the “SNU Reunification Leadership Program” next year for undergraduate students. The two-year program will offer courses on reunification studies and an internship at the Ministry of Unification to provide a hands-on understanding of policy-making for reunification.

The SNU Reunification Education Project is supported by the Ministry of Unification with four years of funding worth KRW 1.6 billion. The rest of the projected budget of KRW 2 billion will be funded by the university. In regard to the new initiative, SNU President SUNG Nak-in stated, “In order to reconcile the conflict between the two Koreas that has existed for 70 years, SNU students will research both Korean societies in depth and find a solution towards reunification.”

Written by Yun Hwan Chae, SNU English Editor, yunhwanchae@snu.ac.kr
Reviewed by Professor Travis Smith, Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, tlsmith@snu.ac.kr