South Korea Updates Peace Roadmap, Adopts Proactive, Multilateral Diplomacy Toward North Korea

On March 13, the third meeting of South Korea’s “Korean Peninsula Peace Strategy Advisory Panel” was held at the South-North Talks Headquarters, with Unification Minister Jeong Dong-yeong presiding. Sixteen experts attended, including former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyeon and Kim Yeon-cheol, chair of the Korean Peninsula Peace Forum.

Jeong Dong-yeong cautioned against the idea that war is easily spoken about or that promoting peace requires telling people to prepare for war. “If you prepare for war to obtain peace, the likelihood of war rises,” he said, underscoring the panel’s focus on avoiding conflict through prudent policy choices. He added that peace remains “the way” and that Korea recognizes the urgency of peace as a global issue.

The participants noted that Pyongyang has been reinforcing a two-state perspective in its approach to inter-Korean affairs. They argued that South Korea’s official unification framework, the “Minjok Gongdongche Tong-il Bang-an” (National Community Unification Plan), should be reinterpreted to account for current realities and conditions, including the path toward an inter-Korean federation.

A revised “Korean Peninsula Peace Roadmap” was proposed to reflect changed circumstances, including steps to reduce hostility and to build military trust. The group emphasized updating strategic assumptions to ensure the plan remains realistic and actionable.

Several experts urged shifting the approach from acting as a “pace-maker” to a proactive “peace-maker,” advocating more assertive diplomacy that extends beyond U.S.-China dialogue to include nearby nations and international organizations through indirect, multilateral channels.

The discussions reflect ongoing efforts by Seoul to adapt its peace and unification strategies to evolving regional dynamics, including shifts in North Korea’s rhetoric and broader geopolitical tensions in Northeast Asia.

For the United States, the negotiations matter because any reorientation of Seoul’s peninsula strategy could influence the U.S.–South Korea alliance, regional security commitments, and the broader stability of supply chains tied to defense, technology, and critical industries. A more active push toward inter-Korean peace, if pursued, would intersect with American policy toward China, North Korea, and multilateral diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific.