@article{ART003309177},
author={MinJu Park},
title={Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula},
journal={Analyses & Alternatives},
issn={2508-822X},
year={2026},
volume={10},
number={1},
pages={107-130},
doi={10.22931/aanda.2026.10.1.004}
TY - JOUR
AU - MinJu Park
TI - Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula
JO - Analyses & Alternatives
PY - 2026
VL - 10
IS - 1
PB - Korea Consensus Institute
SP - 107
EP - 130
SN - 2508-822X
AB - This study challenges the common assumption that young Koreans are “indifferent” to unification, and reinterprets unification education as democratic citizenship learning. Rather than viewing youth responses as apathy, the study argues that such attitudes result from the long-standing exclusion of citizens from the authority to discuss unification, a discourse historically monopolized by state-centered, security-oriented expertise. Moreover, the post-1990 generation has been shaped more by globalization and cosmopolitan citizenship than by ethnic nationalism; thus, unification can no longer taken for granted as a natural duty.
Based on a redesigned university course, this research proposes a three-stage pedagogical model: sensory grounding, civic subjectivation, and narrative imagination. First, students learn to perceive division as a condition embedded in everyday life, rather than as a distant geopolitical conflict. Second, North Koreans are recognized not as enemies or pity objects, but as fellow citizens with rights and dignity. Third, unification becomes a co-created future that requires negotiation, rather than a predetermined national mission. Survey and qualitative responses show that students began to interpret division democratically, exercise ethical responsibility, and construct civic narratives for coexistence. Thus, unification education should move from delivering fixed answers to cultivating democratic agency and civic imagination.
KW - Unification;Youth;Democratic Unification Education;Narrative;Civic Subjectivity
DO - 10.22931/aanda.2026.10.1.004
ER -
MinJu Park. (2026). Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula. Analyses & Alternatives, 10(1), 107-130.
MinJu Park. 2026, "Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula", Analyses & Alternatives, vol.10, no.1 pp.107-130. Available from: doi:10.22931/aanda.2026.10.1.004
MinJu Park "Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula" Analyses & Alternatives 10.1 pp.107-130 (2026) : 107.
MinJu Park. Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula. 2026; 10(1), 107-130. Available from: doi:10.22931/aanda.2026.10.1.004
MinJu Park. "Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula" Analyses & Alternatives 10, no.1 (2026) : 107-130.doi: 10.22931/aanda.2026.10.1.004
MinJu Park. Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula. Analyses & Alternatives, 10(1), 107-130. doi: 10.22931/aanda.2026.10.1.004
MinJu Park. Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula. Analyses & Alternatives. 2026; 10(1) 107-130. doi: 10.22931/aanda.2026.10.1.004
MinJu Park. Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula. 2026; 10(1), 107-130. Available from: doi:10.22931/aanda.2026.10.1.004
MinJu Park. "Can the 2030 Generations Speak ‘Unification’? : Reimagining Unification Education as Democratic Citizenship Learning on the Divided Peninsula" Analyses & Alternatives 10, no.1 (2026) : 107-130.doi: 10.22931/aanda.2026.10.1.004
