This session explores the alternative concepts of, or approaches to, peace and security. South Korea has been preoccupied with ‘hard’ security, as we are under constant threats from North Korea’s nuclear and conventional weapons. The COVID-19 outbreak has made us belatedly realize that there are other threats that cannot be ignored and that we may need to re-examine how we re-conceptualize and respond to security threats if we want to live in peace.
In this context, scholars from different parts of the world grapple with human security issues, including but not limited to climate change, environmental degradation, refugees, and terrorism. They attempt to identify the elements that enable these challenges to function both as multipliers of the pre-existing security threats and as newly emerging threats to human life and prosperity. Measures and policies to effectively address these global problems and the possibility of building international solidarity and cooperation through national, regional, and global approaches are also discussed.
Furthermore, the scholars present and debate the new concept of “humane security,” which is the main theme of the Jeju Forum 2020 and aims to achieve a harmonious relationship between humans and nature by treating it as an entity worthy of special protection and by providing legal personality to the nature itself. They seek to clarify the rationale behind this new conceptual framework for addressing security threats in the 21st century and discuss the possibility of operationalizing it.