The Korea Local Administration Review

This study aims to discuss the development direction of inter-Korean exchanges in local governments facing the era of peace between the two Koreas through comparative analysis of the past experiences of East-West Germany and South-North exchanges. To this end, the government first reviewed theory of international exchange of local governments, functionalism, and public diplomacy, and derived elements of comparative analysis. These items included the local administrative system, the role of the central and local governments, the contents of exchanges and the evaluation of exchange performance. Comparatively analyzed, the past experiences of exchanges between East and West Germany and the two Koreas exist in common and different ways, so we drew suggestions and lessons on future exchanges through each. In summary, it was suggested that in our case, the level of local autonomy is less mature, the role of central government is relatively large, the contents of exchanges are limited, and the exchange performance is not satisfactory. Development directions such as division and reinforcement of roles of central and local governments, diversification of exchange contents, and expansion of projects targeting North Koreans were proposed. And strengthening cooperation with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and promoting projects in the border area as additional review tasks are discussed.