To call Park Chul-un a powerhouse in inter-Korean relations may be an understatement. Park visited North Korea secretly decades before any real periods of détente would emerge between Seoul and Pyongyang. As one of the leading South Korean government figures in inter-Korean relations for a time, he has amassed decades’ worth of experience and perspective.
He, along with translation from NK News‘s very own Jihye Park, explains how his clandestine visits north of the DMZ went down, why North Korea remains the wickedest of problems, what the Moon Jae-in administration and the U.S. should do differently, and — of course — his attendance at the 1989 13th World Festival of Youth and Students in Pyongyang.
Minister Park Chul-un was a three-time National Assemblyman in the 1980s and 1990s, Secretary to the President for Political Affairs, and the architect of the “Northern Policy” under former President Roh Tae-woo. He currently serves as the chairman of the Korea Foundation for Welfare and Unification, among other positions.
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About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.
Featured image: NK News