Yong-joon Lee

Former Ambassador for North Korean Denuclearization

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Korea

Congratulations on the launch of the Newsletter by SAND.

The Sand Institute has been conducting active scholarly activities for the future of a unified Korea for the past five years, bringing together scholars from both North and South Korea. I hope that the publication of this newsletter will allow the institute's scholarly activities to reach beyond Korea. I wholeheartedly support SAND's new newsletter, which is published with the goal and mission of communicating with the rest of the world and spreading consensus on Korean unification.

The international order is changing rapidly due to the conflicts between the United States and China. The international security environment has deteriorated significantly from before the war in Ukraine. In East Asia, North Korea is taking advantage of these changes in the international situation and attempting to change the political and military situation in the region by upgrading its nuclear and missile capabilities. The crisis in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea is also escalating.

Under these circumstances, it is extremely beneficial for regional peace that the SAND Institute, which has been bringing together scholars from both North and South Korea who are familiar with North Korea's strategic intentions and internal situation to diagnose the situation on the Korean Peninsula and explore the path to non-nuclear peace, shares their wisdom with the international community.

I hope that Newsletter by SAND will develop into an authoritative publication that provides readers around the world with great insights into the situation on the Korean Peninsula and East Asia.