President Tien receives delegation of the Korea Institute for National Unification

The delegation of the Korea Institute for National Unification, (KINU), led by President Yeon Chul Kim, visited the Institute for National Policy Research, (INPR) on January 24th, 2019 for exchanges as well as initiating future cooperation. President Hung-mao Tien and other invited staff of the INPR greeted President Kim and his delegation. Dr. Tien stated that the INPR is a non-partisan private think tank. In the last three decades, it has engaged in active research and organized conferences in regard to issues of great interest to national reforms and development. He stressed that the Cross-Strait subject and the relations between South Korea and North Korea share certain common denominators. Hence, cooperation with the KINU is mutually beneficial and should be actively pursued in the future.

On the Korean side, President Kim introduced KINU’s official status, indicating it is affiliated with the Ministry of National Unification. As the government think tank it seeks to contribute to policy formation through systemic research and analysis on issues regarding national unification and in efforts to promote rebuilding of the Korean national community. He stressed that the KINU publishes International Journal of Korean Unification Studies and White Paper on Human Rights of North Korea periodically and it has also provided various reports and analyses from academic and policy perspectives.

President Tien and President Kim then signed a memorandum of understanding, witnessed by members of both the Korean delegation and the INPR, taking the first important step for future exchanges and cooperation. Subsequently, the two institutes engaged in a roundtable discussion on the current Korea peninsula situation as well as Taiwan’s domestic politics and the Cross-Straits relations. Two papers were presented respectively by INPR Executive Director Dr. Yujen Kuo and KINU Research Fellow Dr. Moo Chul Lee. Follow-up discussion by participants of both sides was very lively. This meeting was highly productive and should serve as a prelude for future relations.