Two themes have been in the forefront in Korean media coverage of international relations in the region: diplomacy related to reunification and ROK-Japan relations. The former was sparked by President Park’s New-Year Speech, saying “reunification is like hitting a jackpot (통일은 대박이다).” As two major powers also mentioned reunification (Secretary of State John Kerry touched on it at the Munich Security Conference and a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ report projected a reunified Korean Peninsula as one possible future scenario), observers discussed what should be done next and what is required for South Korea to achieve this goal. In this period bilateral relations with Japan kept deteriorating due to Japan’s constant attempts to revise its history. This prompted further discussion of how to respond to this growing challenge.

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