[On Northeast Asia in Tension, Seeking for Peace]

Q1. How do you think conflict resolution and peace can ease the tension on the Korean peninsula and in East Asia?

South Korea and North Korea might make use of the conflict over the maritime border. Through management of a joint fisheries zone, the Koreas could build confidence and cooperation for mutual and equal benefit. The income from the fisheries could be shared, with 40 percent going to the Republic of Korea, 40 percent going to the DPRK, and 20 percent going toward the ecology of the zone.

In addition, South Korea could increase the network of its airlines. Korean Air, for example, has flights to all East Asia cities except for Pyongyang. Flights jointly run by South Korean and North Korea airlines could help increase the flow of people and ideas across the border to facilitate peaceful reconciliation.


[On Peace]

Q1. What is peace journalism, and how can it help promote peace?

The goal of peace journalism is to ask questions, just as other types of journalism. But when an incident occurs, the peace journalist also asks two additional questions: What is the underlying conflict that arise to such a conflict, and what can we do to solve that underlying conflict? This means we focus not only on the smoke but on the fire.

Q2. How will peace research contribute to promoting peace better?

Peace research has two interconnected aspects: theory and practice. We have been testing the peace theories: the world is dynamic, and situations of peace may erupt in conflict and situations in conflict may resolve peacefully. The purpose of peace research is not merely to demonstrate the need for peace, but to focus on the underlying conflict to contribute to its resolution. Peace research can devise concrete proposals.

Q3. How will multilateral talks as the Jeju Forum contribute to promoting peace better?

I hope the Jeju Forum will contribute concrete ideas. The government of the Republic of Korea has its opinions, as represented by the remarks here by the ROK Minister of Unification, and the Jeju Forum should have someone from North Korea who can respond and give the North Korea version of the issues. In this way, the Jeju Forum should serve as an independent peace forum.

Q4. Do you have any ideas on promoting peace by educating the public and the next generations?​

The thing that communicates best is visions of peace. It’s important to not just to quote professors, to list the definitions of peace and to go through the history of peace. Instead, it’s focusing on different visions of the future. For the Korean peninsula, this might begin with the cooperative measures mentioned above, like the joint fisheries zone or flights between Pyongyang and Seoul. Then people will think that tomorrow could be different.

Dr. Johan Galtung, a main founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies, considers peace research has two interconnected aspects: theory and practice. In this interview, he says that the purpose of peace research is not merely to demonstrate the need for peace, but to focus on the underlying conflict in order to offer concrete proposals.
As part of this mandate, Dr. Galtung suggests ways in which journalists and peace researchers, such as the Jeju Forum, might move beyond day-to-day politics so that researchers can contribute solutions to the underlying conflict. He suggests specific confidence-building measures, tackling well-defined issue areas, that could erode the deeper struggle between South Korea and North Korea. These concrete proposals include a South-North joint fisheries zone and building a network of flights between Seoul and Pyongyang. Dr. Galtung says that these measures would facilitate cooperation for mutual and equal benefit.