The North Korean Human Rights Center, originally planned for Magok-dong in Seoul’s Gangseo District, will now be established as the Korean Peninsula Peace Coexistence Center (working title).
A Ministry of Unification official announced on Thursday that they are in discussions with budget authorities and the National Assembly regarding the need for a Korean Peninsula Peace Coexistence Center. This center would serve as a social hub to embody the new administration’s North Korea policy of inter-Korean cooperation and peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula.
The official clarified that while the current working title is the Korean Peninsula Peace Coexistence Center, the name could change. They emphasized that due to the importance of negotiations with budget authorities and the National Assembly, many variables remain.
Since the enactment of the North Korean Human Rights Act in 2016, the government has been working to establish a dedicated center to consolidate North Korean human rights documentation. The original plan was to integrate documentation, preservation, and research functions into a single facility in Seoul’s Magok district, aiming to systematize the collection, storage, and analysis of North Korean defector testimonies and human rights violation data.
However, the current administration has suspended the construction bidding for the North Korean Human Rights Center and initiated a comprehensive review of the project, including its name, themes, and exhibition content.
The government now plans to purchase an additional 1,485 square meters (about 15,984 sqaure feet) of land, expanding the site to 4,132 square meters (about 44,476 sqaure feet) for the Korean Peninsula Peace Coexistence Center. The total project cost is expected to increase from the initial 25 billion KRW (about 17.1 million USD) to about 40 billion KRW (about 27.4 million USD). There are also plans to reallocate 13 billion KRW (about 8.9 million USD), including 8 billion KRW (about 5.5 million USD) from the 2026 budget originally earmarked for the North Korean Human Rights Center and 5 billion KRW (about 3.4 million USD) in unused funds from this year, towards the new project.
During a National Assembly Budget and Settlement Committee inquiry on November 6, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young stated that the North Korean Human Rights Center was a key initiative of the previous administration’s North Korea policy. It aims to construct a peace center, potentially named the Peace Coexistence Center or Peace Exchange Center, on the already secured site. This aligns with our new administration’s North Korea policy, which emphasizes Korean Peninsula Peace and Coexistence.
Minister Chung also mentioned that he had sought cooperation from the Minister of Economy and Finance and the Deputy Prime Minister on this matter.
