Messages of peace written by visitors hang from a tree in the exhibition center of Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea. File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI | License Photo
The situation on the Korean Peninsula is one of the most enduring geopolitical challenges, and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea represents both a moral imperative and a strategic necessity. A public diplomacy and information campaign aimed at North Korea must be comprehensive, strategic, and anchored in the shared values of freedom, human rights, and self-determination. This essay outlines key strategies to achieve the goal of a free and unified Korea with a focus on human rights, information dissemination, and creating conditions for unification.
A free and unified Korea, the United Republic of Korea (UROK), represents the only viable path to ending North Korea’s nuclear threat and human rights abuses, and achieving long-term peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia. The pursuit of this goal demands a strategic and holistic public diplomacy and information campaign to counter the propaganda of Kim Jong Un’s regime and to empower the Korean people in the North with the knowledge, tools, and hope necessary for change. This campaign must emphasize human rights, self-determination, and the unique opportunity for Koreans to take control of their future. Advertisement Advertisement
The necessity of unification
The division of the Korean Peninsula is unnatural and perpetuates a system of human rights abuses under the Kim regime. As stated in the UN General Assembly Resolution 811, the objective remains a unified, independent, and democratic Korea under a representative form of government. Unification offers the solution to three critical issues: the nuclear threat posed by North Korea and its systematic human rights violations, and the need for a stable and prosperous region. By pursuing unification, we aim for a Korea that is secure, stable, non-nuclear, and economically vibrant.
The Kim regime’s information warfare
The Kim regime’s primary tool for maintaining control is information warfare (IW). Through the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD) and other covert means, North Korea seeks to subvert the Republic of Korea (ROK), split the ROK-U.S. alliance, and create external threats to justify the suffering and sacrifice of the North Korean people. Kim Jong Un’s regime has gone to great lengths to prevent the flow of outside information, knowing that an informed population poses an existential threat to his rule. The North’s information warfare is part of a larger strategy of political warfare designed to dominate the Korean Peninsula. Advertisement
Shifting the alliance’s focus
The ROK-U.S. alliance must prioritize solving the “Korea question,” which is the unnatural division of the Korean peninsula (Para. 60 of the1953 Armistice) over denuclearization alone. A shift from a denuclearization-first approach to one focused on unification is imperative. This means recognizing that achieving denuclearization and ending human rights abuses is only possible through unification. To that end, the alliance must conduct a superior political warfare strategy, consisting of three lines of effort: a human rights upfront approach, a sophisticated information campaign, and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea.
A human rights up front approach
Human rights must be at the forefront of this campaign. It is not only a moral imperative but also a national security issue. The Kim regime denies the basic human rights of the North Korean people to maintain power. The campaign should emphasize that the Korean people in the North suffer because of the regime’s deliberate decision to prioritize nuclear weapons over their welfare. Article 21 of the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to participate in their government, should be a central theme in our messaging.
Empowering the Korean people with information Advertisement
One of the key weaknesses of the Kim regime is its reliance on controlling information. The regime invests heavily in propaganda and censorship to keep the North Korean people isolated from the outside world and ignorant of their basic human rights. The Korean people in the North live in a state of extreme oppression, denied access to external information, freedom of speech, and freedom of movement. This control is so pervasive that North Koreans often lack even the basic frame of reference to understand resistance or what life outside the regime’s control might look like.
However, despite this, North Koreans have demonstrated immense resilience in the face of hardship. The key challenge is that while North Koreans are resilient, they have limited capability for resistance. This paradox highlights the importance of information as a tool of empowerment. By providing the North Korean people with unfiltered information about the outside world — particularly about life in South Korea, where freedom, democracy, and human rights are guaranteed — they can begin to see an alternative future. The “10-Point Promise” outlined at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea serves as an important tool in this regard, offering the North Korean people a vision of a better future without the Kim regime. Advertisement
In accordance with the new 8.15 Unification Doctrine and its “3-3-7 framework” of three unification visions, three strategies, and seven action plans, the ROK government must focus on information among the Korean people in the South. Specifically, the government and Korean civil society must stress cultivating values and capabilities within South Korea to drive unification and the development of action programs to educate and inspire future generations about unification.
A sophisticated information campaign, therefore, must prioritize the dissemination of practical and truthful information into North Korea. This campaign could include broadcasting content from sources such as Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), which already play an important role in penetrating the regime’s information blockade. By amplifying these efforts, North Koreans can be exposed to knowledge about their rights, the opportunities that exist in a unified Korea, and the ways in which they can organize for change. This would not only serve as a source of hope but also a catalyst for mobilizing action from within the country.
A key target audience must be the north Korean People’s Army (nKPA). The ROK and U.S. military psychological operations forces need to create a campaign targeting the nKPA with two objectives: first to prevent an attack of the South; the second to disobey orders directing the suppression of any collective action by the Korean people. The nKPA must decide not to put down any resistance to the Kim family regime. Advertisement
Information is the connective tissue between human rights and unification. A comprehensive information campaign must focus on three target audiences: the regime elite, the second-tier leadership, and the general population in the North. This campaign should be based on the five principles of information:
Massive quantities of information, from news to entertainment.
Practical information to encourage market activity and collective action.
Facts and the truth about North Korea and the outside world.
Understanding universal human rights.
Voices from North Korean escapees to tell their stories of success.
This information campaign should aim to expose the Kim regime’s strategies and failures, highlighting the immense cost of their nuclear and missile activities on the Korean people.
Creating internal pressure for change
The goal of the information campaign should be to support the Korean people in the North to create the conditions for meaningful change. North Korea’s internal stability is fragile, particularly given the regime’s policy failures and the growing dissatisfaction among the elite and the military. By amplifying this internal pressure through information dissemination, the United States and South Korea can help create an environment in which change becomes inevitable.
One of the most powerful tools in this regard is the concept of a free and unified Korea. The United States and South Korea have consistently expressed their support for a unified Korean Peninsula based on freedom, democracy, and human rights. This vision stands in stark contrast to the Kim family regime’s objective of domination. By emphasizing the benefits of unification — such as economic development, individual freedoms, and an end to the regime’s human rights abuses — the information campaign can inspire hope among the North Korean people and drive them to demand change. Advertisement
Furthermore, the campaign must not only focus on human rights abuses but also provide practical knowledge to the North Korean people on how to organize and resist the regime. This could include information on non-violent resistance, methods for evading surveillance, and strategies for communicating securely with one another. By empowering the people with both the knowledge of their rights and the tools to fight for them, the campaign can help facilitate the conditions for regime transition.
Conclusion
A sophisticated and holistic information campaign is essential for supporting the Korean people in North Korea in their pursuit of freedom and unification. By providing them with access to information, undermining the legitimacy of the Kim regime, and creating internal pressures for change, the United States and South Korea can play a critical role in shaping the future of the Korean Peninsula. The time is ripe for a new strategy, and the power of information must be at the forefront of efforts to achieve a free and unified Korea, a United Republic of Korea (UROK).
David Maxwell is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel who has spent more than 30 years in the Asia Pacific region (primarily Korea, Japan, and the Philippines) as a practitioner, specializing in Northeast Asian Security Affairs and irregular, unconventional, and political warfare. He is the Vice President of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a Senior Fellow at the Global Peace Foundation, where he focuses on a free and unified Korea. Following retirement, he was the Associate Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. He is a member of the board of directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the OSS Society and is a contributing editor to Small Wars Journal. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. Advertisement
