South Korean citizen organizations dedicated to unification, including the Pan-Korea Alliance for Reunification’s southern headquarters, also known as Bumminryun, and the South Korean Committee for Implementation of the Jun. 15 Joint Declaration (6.15 South Korean Committee) have started reorganizing and dissolving.
This action follows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s declaration at a plenary meeting of the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) last year, in which he stated that the relationship between North and South Korea “is not one of kinship but rather between two hostile nations.” He ordered the reorganization and restructuring of inter-Korean organizations, including the Unification Front Department. In response, North Korean organizations outside the KWP, such as Bumminryun and the 6·15 North Korean organizations, have undergone overhauls. This has compelled their South Korean counterparts, who promote the ‘unification movement’ in South Korea, to do the same.
Bumminryun’s southern headquarters recently announced plans to convene a general meeting on Feb. 17 to discuss its dissolution and forming a new organization. The decision was influenced by recognizing a ‘new period of upheaval’ in inter-Korean relations. Similarly, the 6.15 South Korean Committee convened on Jan. 31 to contemplate its future direction.
Designated as a group benefiting the enemy by the South Korean Supreme Court in 1997, Bumminryun’s southern headquarters has advocated for the reunification of Korea under a federal system, the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea, and the repeal of the National Security Act. On its 24th anniversary in 2014, North Korea praised Bumminryun’s efforts towards reunification as a “patriotic project,” acknowledging its role in uniting Koreans from the North, South, and overseas under a common patriotic cause. However, the group faced internal turmoil after Kim Jong-un renounced the Three-Point Charter for National Reunification, emphasizing sovereignty, peace, and national unity.
The NGO Council for North Korean Human Rights (NCNKHR) has observed that pro-North Korean organizations in South Korea are losing their influence. Kim Young-hwan, a researcher at the Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights (NKnet), noted that the longstanding perceptional framework has collapsed, leading to inevitable internal confusion.
Recent remarks by key participants in a public debate organized by South Korean independent lawmaker Yoon Mee-hyang, such as “If peace can be achieved through a unification war, we should be open to it,” reflect the ongoing turmoil and contribute to this confusion. These statements, which aim to prevent division among pro-North Korean groups, have been criticized for their flawed reasoning.
