국내외 통일환경의 혼돈 속에서 통일교육의 방향과 과제

Abstract

남북한은 2000년 남북 정상의 6.15 남북한 공동 선언을 통해 새로운 전기를 마련하였다. 그러나 현재 남북한의 관계를 바라보는 우리 남한 사회의 인식은 아직도 혼돈 그 자체이다. 다양한 사회적 인식을 바탕으로 한 통일교육은 평화와 안보의 두 개 자대로 이루어지는 향방에서 상당히 어려운 입장에 처해 있다. 이러한 측면에서 우리의 흡수 통일, 자유 민주주의로의 통일 방안은 북한과의 긴장을 초래할 수 있으며, 국내의 보수 세력을 설득하지 않은 남북한 정부 및 민간의 접촉은 남한 사회 보수층의 의혹을 가중시킬 것이다. 따라서 통일교육은 보수적 시각이나 진보적 시각을 아우르고 수렴하는 대화와 실천을 이루려는 내용을 가져야 한다. 그러한 바탕에서 통일교육은 남북한 이해 교육, 교육 수요자의 미래 지향적 안보교육, 보편 지향적 민족교육을 주요한 내용으로 전개되어야 한다.

South and North Korea held the first summit meeting last year. "The June 15 South-North Joint Declaration" gave a blueprint for Korea's unification and was a turning point in the conflicts between the two Koreas. Yet we have difficulty in establishing peace. There are different opinions among the Republicans in the United States and the conservatives in Korea over the North Korea's missile programs. A lot of Korean people are skeptical about the return visit by North Korean leader, Kim Jung-Il. They think that the plan may help the two Koreas reach peaceful reconciliation, but they apprehend that it may cause conflicts between conservative groups and progressive ones. Many people criticize that Kim Dae-jung government is too soft in dealing with the North and haste a good relation between south & north koreans. I don't think that Kim Dae-jung government will dialog with the opposite leaders on the North Korea and unification issues. This also applies to unification education. Only some of school teachers show interest in Korea's unification. The reason is that we still hold the conservative way of thinking about North Korea and that we fail to reach a national consensus on unification. So external circumstances, especially U.S.' North Korea policy tend to be a dependent variable in divided Korea. Unification education should give South Korean people a vision on reconciliation with the N. Korean people and lead Korea to one unified state. So specialists in unification education must give national conviction to people that the unification is indispensable and realistic. They ought to help them critically understand the reality of North Korea. All unification debates must be open to the general public. Unification itself must be achieved by the peaceful nation with power. So specialists in unification education should teach both students and our people to live their life for peace, security, and the brighter future of Korea despite internal and external obstacles in the path of national unification.