「통일교육지원법」의 개정방향

The Unification Education Support Act stipulates unification education at schools(The Unification Education Support Act, Article 8), and training of professional unification educators(Article 9-2). Detailed provisions pertaining to unification education at social levels have not been established, even though the concept of a regional unification education center is prescribed by the law. The Act, which serves as a basis for unification education, was enacted in 5th of Febuary, 1999. However, many are showing a tentative attitude towards the legal system due to its incompleteness as a primary regulation, although it has been amended multiple times since its enforcement in 6th of August, 1999. It is certainly true that recent changes such as Unification Education Week(Article 3-3), strengthening responsibilities of the State and the local government(Article 4), designation and revocation of unification halls(Article 6-6), and unification education for public officials(Article 6-7), which came into force in 13th of March 2018, are worth noting. Nevertheless, some of the provisions are voluntary and require further amendments in order to invigorate unification education. This research is confined to legal considerations regarding effective unification education. In specific, it describes problems such as budgetary gap, issues with student recruitment and an insufficient cooperative system between the State(Ministry of Education) and local government. For policy directions, this research considers legislative structure or function, tasking system, and management for unification education. Moreover, this paper underlines the education as a necessary measure to overcome the differences between South and North Korea, although the legislators at the time of enforcement viewed it as a temporary solution. It also underscores the necessity of enacting an additional act, namely Democratic Education Support Act, to actualize effective civil and unification education. [Keywords：unification education, Unification Education Act, regional unification education center, unification education officials, unification education at schools, unification education at social levels, Democratic Education Support Act]