Peace Through Tourism : Visiting the Korean Borderland

Abstract: According to South Korea, there is no North Korea. In fact, the government considers itself the only legitimate state on the peninsula, much alike North Korea’s view. Officially, the two countries on the Korean peninsula are at war, having been in a ceasefire for 70 years. For many reasons, the countries have failed to reconcile and build peace, and a 4km wide demilitarised buffer zone remains as a closed border between the nations, separating families and making cross-border passage impossible. North Korea infamously perpetuates serious human rights violations and nuclear weapon development, further emphasising the urgency in finding ways of building peace on the Korean peninsula. This study aimed to investigate how tourism at the Korean border could aid the Korean reconciliation and reunification process. Tourism has been recognized as a central force shaping our world through its ability to build intercultural understanding and connection in an increasingly globalised world. The study applied a method of qualitative content analysis, and an analytical framework was created drawing on previous work on conditions for a positive peace-tourism nexus. When gathering data on what tourism projects have been in effect at the Korean border and applying conditions for tourism to have a positive influence on the peace process, results differed. While earlier projects did not show signs of having a positive effect, current projects provided more reason to believe they could provide an important alternative approach to peace building which would be less reliant on intergovernmental relations and therefore more able to work as a contributor to peace.