Increasing cultural exchanges between North and South Korea: Upcoming bright future

The reconciliatory mood between South and North Korea is actively ongoing as South Korean regional government seems to recover ties with North Korean government since the summit meeting of two leaders. After 2010, as the military tension has become gradually increasing, a myriad of previous interrelated programs has been also stopped. However, as there is an active movement recovering the relationship between two countries, new gradual exchanges are expected. According to the official announcement, the exchanges will be limited to culture, medical aids and sports field which are relatively easy to access and tackle rather than politics or national economy.

For an example of upcoming exchanges, Seoul is planning to recreate a regional football tournament between Seoul and Pyongyang, which has been lastly held before the Korean War. For these concrete details of this plan, the national government said that it is currently working on the Ministry of Unification. Also, Gyeonggi Province also announced that it will cooperate in medical aid project aiming to help the disadvantaged people living in North Korea. This medial project is especially tackling common diseases in North Korea, called tuberculosis and malnutrition. This project was also used to be implemented before, but temporarily ceased after the previous Lee Myungbak administration. Another planned project is a cultural exchange festival by inviting North Korean performers to South Korea and performing together in a stage.

In addition, other provinces and other cities also actively trying to come up with plans to interrelate with North Korea. Gwangju local government, for instance, announced that it will try to invite North Korean athletes to the 18th FINA World Championship next year, and Jeju island also said that it will revive the cultural exchanges with North Korea as it did before the Lee administration. Looking a series of movement to cooperate and interrelate to North Korea, it seems to be plausible to imagine bright future of Korea without any nuclear threat but with peace.