박근혜 정부의 통일정책의 정책수용성에 대한 실증연구: 2013년과 2015년 국민인식조사 비교

Unification policy under Park Geun-Hye government initiated with the ‘unification jackpot’ discourse in January 2014 and it has been one of the key government agendas. Since then, the government has extensively made efforts to systematically prepare for the possible unification and the policy has been embodied through the Dresden Declaration in March 2014 and the establishment of the Presidential Committee of Unification Preparation in July 2014. Despite its positive contribution, the government has also faced much criticism on its top-down and instrumental approaches towards unification. In this context, this research aims to empirically examine the effectiveness of the unification policy with special attention on citizens’ attitudes towards unification. In order to review whether the unification policy has positively changed citizens’ attitudes towards the unification, this study analyzes two national surveys in December 2013, right before the ‘unification jackpot’ discourse, and the one in December 2015, and compares changes in citizens’ attitudes. While the perception that the unification could occur within 10 to 20 years has increased, negative attitudes towards the possible unification have also increased. Besides, as normative attitudes towards the unification has diminished, individuals’ economic status has become more important factor behind unification perception than ideological stance. Finally, this study discusses implications of this research for the unification policy.