* Australian Korean supporters and the Korean cheering squad are cheering together during the North Korea–China match. ⓒ Il Young Jeong Il Young Jeong Senior Research Fellow_Institute of Social Science_Sogang University “Go Korea!” echoed across Australia. It felt good not to have to divide the peninsula into South and North. “Go Korea!” The heartfelt chant was both a cheer for our South and North Korean players and a call for reconciliation between the two Koreas and for peace on the Korean Peninsula. This is the story of a South Korean cheering squad supporting both South and North Korea at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, held in Australia since March 1. This article is a personal account written by the author, who participated in the tournament as a member of the joint cheering squad. The reason we set off for a distant southern land, Australia This is Sydney, Australia’s representative global city, where the Women’s Asian Cup football tournament is in full swing. I v...
* On December 16, 2025, South Korean civil society organizations, including the Citizens’ Peace Forum, held a press conference in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul, opposing the ‘ROK–U.S. North Korea Policy Coordination Consultative Body.’ ⓒ Citizens’ Peace Forum Il Young Jeong Senior Research Fellow_Institute of Social Science_Sogang University “Ah … the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making the Korean Peninsula issue even more complicated.” That was my first reaction upon reading the news that South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was pushing for high-level talks with the United States to coordinate policy toward North Korea. In the end, the Ministry of Unification — the government body primarily responsible for North Korea policy — announced it would not participate in the talks, citing the Foreign Ministry’s overreach. Former unification ministers and civil society organizations also opposed the launch of the consultative body, warning that it would become...