인간 너머의 민족공동체통일방안에 관한 시론적 탐색

초록

This study seeks to reinterpret South Korea’s official unification plan — the National Community Unification Formula—through the lens of more-than- human geography, thereby exploring the potential for a new unification discourse. Introduced by the Kim Young-sam administration in 1994, the plan envisions a gradual path to unification through three stages: reconciliation and cooperation, a Korean commonwealth, and a unified state. It has long been regarded as a product of national consensus, supported by political parties and civil society alike. However, unpredictable changes such as the intensification of North Korea’s nuclear program and the rise of multicultural populations have increasingly called for a revision of the existing framework. In response, this study maintains the plan’s core structure while exploring the possibility of integrating a more-than-human epistemology. More-than-human geography recognizes nonhuman entities-such as nature, objects, and animals-as agents that exert real influence on human societies, thereby challenging the epistemological limitations of anthropocentrism. Traditional unification discourses have confined the notion of community to human actors, systematically excluding nonhuman beings. This study argues for a paradigm shift, proposing that sustainable peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula can only be realized through collaborative entanglements with the more-than-human world. To this end, the study proposes a “More-than-Human National Community Unification Formula.” This is not merely an expansion of the community to include nonhuman beings, but a reimagining of the community itself as an entangled network of human and nonhuman interactions. Specifically, the research: (1) reexamines the concepts of sustainability and the state from a more-than-human perspective; (2) analyzes the anthropocentric limitations embedded in the current unification plan; and (3) offers a scenario-based proposal for how a more-than-human unification model might be opera- tionalized in practice. Ultimately, this study aims to retain the foundation of social consensus embedded in the current policy while introducing an epistemological shift that opens space for alternative policy imaginaries to break the impasse in inter-Korean relations.

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