Tomorrow marks the 81st Liberation Day, the anniversary of South Korea regaining the sovereignty it had lost, a national holiday on which the entire country shares the joy of liberation. Since then, South Korea has achieved remarkable growth. From the ruins of war it built the Miracle on the Han River, achieving industrialization and democratization and rising to become the world’s sixth-largest exporter. It has also grown into a cultural powerhouse. People around the world sing K-pop, watch K-content and eat K-food. Last year, K-food exports reached a record $13.6 billion (about 20 trillion won). K-food is now exported to 208 countries — more than the number of United Nations member states.
Through years of hardship, we have built the South Korea we are proud of today. Yet the reality of a Korean Peninsula divided into South and North weighs heavily on my mind. With inter-Korean exchange severed, what field could we start with first? I can say with confidence that it is agriculture. Having spent my life alongside rural and fishing communities and their people, including livestock farmers, I have long reflected on the North-South question. That has led me to the conviction that agricultural exchange is the most realistic and effective path toward Korean reunification.
Above all, agriculture is a matter of daily survival. Because it is directly tied to life itself, it is a field where exchange and cooperation can continue in a humanitarian spirit, unshaken by ideology or the government of the day. North Korea has a different farming environment from the South, shaped by factors such as its terrain. Many areas lack developed farmland, and mechanization remains relatively low. That makes agricultural technology tailored to North Korea all the more necessary. The old approach of simply handing over fish cannot overcome the North’s limitations and difficulties. We must pass on farming technology so that North Koreans themselves can learn how to catch and raise fish.
Inter-Korean agricultural cooperation has taken place before, but it was halted long ago amid shifting political conditions. To nurture the seeds of peace on the peninsula, we must build a sustainable framework for cooperation and pursue exchange more actively. We could begin again by having the South and North agree to farm a particular area of the North using our agricultural technology. This means building farmland infrastructure, teaching the water management techniques needed for farming, and passing on agricultural know-how. It would naturally lead North Koreans to open their hearts to the South and to build trust. If a system is established in which the two Koreas produce food together using our technology and our farm machinery, it will lay the foundation for inter-Korean exchange and cooperation.
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the buffer between South and North, could also become a stage for agricultural cooperation. The idea is to jointly produce eco-friendly, high-quality agricultural, livestock and fishery products and to develop the area into an international trade zone where business figures can carry out economic activity freely. The DMZ is a place of great historical and cultural symbolism — foreigners rank it among the places they most want to visit in Korea. What if the DMZ became a new global hub for active international trade and investment in agriculture? It would showcase a new future built by the Korean people, bring economic benefits to both South and North, and achieve both peace and growth.
Agriculture is the root of our people. Across 5,000 years of Korean history, we have tilled the land together, shared our harvests, and carried on the culture and sentiment of our community. However long the years of division, the channel for exchange can begin with the agriculture our people have shared. Let us lay the cornerstone of peace on the Korean Peninsula through agricultural exchange between South and North.
