통일교육 활성화를 위한 법제도 개선방안

The Unification Education Support Act stipulates basic laws and ordinances for promoting and supporting education on the unification of South and North Korea. The Act, however, is lacking in various aspects as an institutional framework for unification education. In particular, Article 7, which prescribes the reflection of unification education and Article 8, which states the promotion of unification education at schools are not mandatary provisions. As such, one should contemplate the necessity of unification education in public institutions or in public domains. Previously, discussions on unification education were confined to the realm of politics and education and little has been discussed in a legal perspective. Thus, this research presents the current situation of unification education in public institutions and then investigates areas, which requires legislative improvements. From this, the paper derives possible measures to enhance the legal framework for unification education. In order to do so, it scrutinizes the cases in Germany and seeks to find its implications in South Korea. To amend the Unification Education Support Act, the paper establishes legal grounds for Unification Education Week and contests to reinforce accountability for unification education support among public institutions such as the ROK government and local governments. Moreover, it constructs legal basis to designate or to cancel unification buildings, and describes ways to enforce unification education for public servants. It also finds grounds for improving and promoting awareness of unification education. Finally, the study reexamines the role of regional unification education center and unification education committee. Regarding improvement measures, the paper proposes to establish a close cooperation system in institutions of unification education, to foster experts on unification by creating a professional unification education course in public institutions. In addition, it looks into increasing support for unification education at schools, and seeks ways to revitalize unification education in Korean society. Lastly, it researches the Korean version of efforts to bring “Beutelsbach Consensus.”