| This article is part of a series on |
| Liberalism in South Korea |
|---|
 |
The Sunshine Policy (Korean: 햇볕정책; RR: Haetbyeot Jeongchaek) is one of the approaches for South Korea's foreign policy towards North Korea, lasting from 1998–2008 and again from 2017–2020.
Its official title is The Reconciliation and Cooperation Policy Towards the North (Korean: 대북화해협력정책; RR: Daebook Hwahae Hyeob-ryeok Jeongchaek), and it is also known as The Operational Policy Towards the North (Korean: 대북운영정책; RR: Daebook Oonyeong Jeongchaek) and The Embracing Policy (Korean: 포용정책; RR: Poyong Jeongchaek).[1]
The policy emerged largely in the context of the growing economic gap between the two Koreas: the South was strengthening itself and experiencing economic prosperity that had begun under President Park Chung Hee in the 1970s while the North was experiencing severe economic decline and faced bankruptcy. While the North Korean government spent an excessive portion of its budget on its military and nuclear program, they experienced widespread starvation.[1] The Sunshine Policy aimed at mitigating this gap in economic power and restoring lost communication between the two States.
Furthermore, the background to South Korea's decision to engage North Korea through cooperation rather than maintaining a conservative stance in the past shows a historical shift in the South Korea's domestic politics as well. According to Son Key-young, a South Korean author, the Sunshine Policy emerged ultimately as evidence of the evolving South Korean national identity since the Cold War. The Cold War "ushered in an era of unprecedented confusion in South Korea over whether to define North Korea as friend or foe".[2]
The Sunshine Act was created and launched by President Kim Dae-jung in 1998. This policy resulted in greater political contact between the two States and some historic moments in Inter-Korean relations; the three Korean summit meetings in Pyongyang (June 2000, October 2007, and September 2018) and two meetings in Panmunjom (April 2018 and May 2018), as well as several high-profile business ventures, and brief meetings of family members[3][4] separated by the Korean War. In 2000, Kim Dae-jung, the then-President of South Korea, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his implementation of the Sunshine Policy.[5]
Following the election of Moon Jae-in in 2017, South Korea began reconciling with North Korea once more, thus beginning a revival of the Sunshine Policy. Moon Jae-in's effort to improve the inter-Korean relationship resulted in three inter-Korean summits in a year, including two summits held in Panmunjom (April and May 2018) that marked the first inter-Korean summits to be held outside of Pyongyang, and one in Pyongyang (September 2018). In recognition of Moon's endeavor in inter-Korean relationship as the first president to hold multiple summits in a year, his version of Sunshine Policy became known as "Moonshine Policy".[6]
- ^ a b Kim, Hyun-Key (2012). "South Korea's Sunshine Policy, Reciprocity and Nationhood". Perspectives on Global Development and Technology. 11 (1): 99–111. doi:10.1163/156914912X620761.
- ^ Son, Key-Young (2006). South Korean Engagement Policies and North Korea: Identities, Norms and the Sunshine Policy. New York: Routledge. pp. 4, 256.
- ^ "Korean families reunited after 60 years". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
- ^ "Second Korean family reunion in North". BBC News. 2015-10-24. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
- ^ "Kim Dae-jung - Facts". The Nobel Prize. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung was awarded the Peace Prize for his 'sunshine policy' towards North Korea. By means of warmth and friendliness he sought to lay the foundations for a peaceful reunification of the two Korean states, which had been in a state of war since 1950.
- ^ Harris, Bryan; Song, Jung-a (2018-05-18). "Summit's cancellation damages Korean 'Moonshine' diplomacy". Financial Times. Retrieved 2024-04-21.