Decades of war and division have plagued the Korean peninsula over much of the past century. Syracuse University students were given the opportunity to witness a part of the conflict’s diplomatic process.

Nine students attended the 2019 Global Peace Forum on Korea at Columbia University in September. The second annual conference was meant to foster discussions of peace between high level diplomats to North Korea and South Korea and academics from around the world.

The students who attended the forum are currently enrolled in the class “Politics of North and South Korea,” taught by political science professor Frederick Carriere. Carriere’s students were the only delegation of students represented at this conference. Many diplomats were already in New York City for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit.

Jiayu Qiu, a senior studying international relations and accounting, is concentrating her studies on North Korea. However, it wasn’t just the presence of North Korean diplomats that convinced her to attend the forum.

The students are currently enrolled in the SU class “Politics of North and South Korea.”.Courtesy of Global Peace Forum

“There were people from North Korea there that drove me a lot,” Qiu said. “Then, there are also people from the National Assembly of South Korea. You also have speakers from Russia and China. So, that’s going to be a very diversified conversation.”

Some students were able to meet with Kim Song, North Korean ambassador to the United Nations. Hong Ihk-pyo, leader of the Democratic Party in South Korea, was also in attendance and spoke during the forum.

For Jiaming Huang, a senior majoring in international relations, the party leader’s attendance was necessary to progress any conversation about peace on the peninsula.

“It’s definitely an achievement to bring the chief spokesperson of the ruling party,” said Huang. “This spokesperson was within the same party as President Moon Jae-in and so perhaps could give more forthcoming representation.”

The Korean peninsula was divided on the 38th parallel in 1945, creating the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. Since the end of the Korean War, the United States has become a liaison between the North and South.

While talks of peace and denuclearization continue, progress seems to fluctuate. Officials at the September conference discussed the lack of progress made during the Hanoi meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February 2019. In June of this year, Trump was the first president to cross the Demilitarized Zone in Panmunjeom, North Korea.

Carriere said that for him, this year marked his 50th anniversary of landing on the Korean peninsula as a GI with the U.S. military. Since that moment, Korea and studies revolving around the area have become a large part of his life, he said.

At the conference, Carriere heard something from a South Korean representative that he had never heard through all of his years of Korean studies.

Nine students attended the 2019 Global Peace Forum on Korea at Columbia University in September.Courtesy of Global Peace Forum

“He said that we South Koreans need to realize that we have to have more empathy for the position of North Korea,” Carriere said. “We need to understand what the world looks like from their eyes. It sounds so soft and inappropriate but it’s actually very powerful.”

Students such as Ziguang Lu, an international relations junior, said that just witnessing discussions at the forum was a valuable experience. He recounted speeches by academics and diplomats on topics including food security on the peninsula and denuclearization policy.

Overall, Lu felt that it was important to experience diplomacy outside of the classroom.

“A lot of the political theories that we learned in school, as an international relations major, we can never truly understand because we’ve never had that first-hand experience,” said Lu. “If we only hear from scholars and professors, that’s not enough. We need to hear from practitioners in the field.”

Published on October 9, 2019 at 10:53 pm

Contact Amy: abnakamu@syr.edu