Businessmen will accompany President Moon Jae-in and visit North Korea for the third inter-Korean summit, which will be held in Pyongyang on September 18-20. The list of a special party for the trip to North Korea released on September 16 included the representatives of the nation's four major business groups--Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics; Kim Yong-hwan, vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Company; Koo Kwang-mo, chairman of LG; and Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group--as well as Hyun Jeong-eun, chairman of Hyundai Group and Choi Jeong-woo, chairman of POSCO. Leaders of business organizations and the IT industry, such as Park Yong-maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of the Korea Employers Federation; and Park Sung-taek, chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs were also mentioned. Of the 52 people in the special party, a third (seventeen) were business-related figures. It is noteworthy for it shows the determination of the government and businesses to breathe life into economic cooperation between the two Koreas.

Top priority in the upcoming summit is denuclearization. Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha will accompany the president as an official aide for the first time to prepare for a future diplomatic channel between North Korea and the United States. It is also important for North and South Korean military authorities to support the denuclearization process with measures to ease tensions. But another issue that requires particular attention is economic cooperation. North Korea has already declared to abandon its policy of simultaneously pursuing a nuclear program and economic growth and to focus on building its economy. For North Korea to promote denuclearization, the international community also needs to carry out the economic cooperation it has promised. Once North Korea embarks on a road toward economic development, it will be difficult to return to a course of nuclear armament. Inter-Korean economic cooperation is also a new opportunity for the South. When South Korean companies take part in building the infrastructure in North Korea, it will have a significant economic impact. The government plans to begin the construction work to connect railways and roads between the two Koreas. If peace is settled, we can build a new unification economic zone in the border region. Indeed, the two Koreas will have entered a virtuous cycle of mutual prosperity.

Conservatives argue that the companies could face disadvantages when they engage in economic cooperation with North Korea. They argue that investment in North Korea is a violation of international sanctions and that they could suffer great losses if North Korea's relationship with the United States goes awry. It is natural for companies to prepare for risks, but they also need to focus on the opportunity that can emerge when the international sanctions are lifted. If businesses interpret the opportunity as having to just “give” to the North, they won't be able to expect a reunification that can bring them a "big break." Businessmen visited North Korea and discussed economic cooperation at the inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007, but due to North Korea's nuclear program and uncertain security situations that followed, they failed to make any progress. Now North Korea and the U.S. are seriously working to restore relations and they have come to a point where they are now discussing a possible declaration of an end to the Korean War. We hope to see the businessmen lay the cornerstone in inter-Korean economic cooperation in the upcoming trip.