Purpose and necessity of the project
CSIS takes policy studies on Korean unification to a new, cutting‐edge level with the continuing creation of analytic content and academic research for an innovative, interactive website titled Beyond Parallel. The website is a nonpartisan and authoritative analytic vehicle for delivering greater clarity and understanding to the public (especially policymakers, strategists, and opinion leaders in the U.S. and international communities). The primary objective of Beyond Parallel is to prepare the international public for Korean unification through academic research with new evidence, analytic tools, and data.

This website seeks to revolutionize the way we think about unification through complex data collection and analysis and a holistic look at the practical issues that will be associated with the process. By building and utilizing this type of forum, this project will make two major contributions to the existing scholarship, policy debates, and public understanding of Korean unification: 1) it moves the policy debates beyond the traditional focus on German unification; and 2) it will present a 360‐degree view of unification that looks beyond the question of North Korean contingencies and/or state collapse. This project strives to study those practical issues and opportunities that relate to the areas of health, energy, environment, business, human rights, humanitarian aid, governance, foreign relations, and security.

The project goals are to:
1) Bring greater transparency and understanding to the policy challenges and opportunities associated with Korean unification.
2) Create a central source for comprehensive, factual, unbiased information in English on Korean unification to provide an authoritative focus for all countries in the region and help to shape, inform, and define public policy discussions about the Korean peninsula around the world.
3) Form a community of experts, opinion makers, and policy leaders who closely examine the range of issues associated with Korean unification and develop a corpus of policy‐relevant resources for governments, the private sector, and policy institutions.
4) Generate original, cutting‐edge, and objective analysis for global and regional stakeholders to facilitate and improve policy‐making despite the lack of open dialogue or formal engagement on unification issues.
5) Utilize cutting edge methodology and data visualization, including big data, opinion‐polling, imagery, oral history, and interactive graphics to increase the level of international understanding about unification.
6) Expand the reach of discussion on Korean unification through online application, social media, and virtual mediums that go beyond conventional dissemination methods of books and pamphlets. 7) Promote the latest and best studies on issues related to Korean unification, including migration, refugees, nuclear safety, health infrastructure, pandemics, denuclearization, transitional justice, environment, human rights, reconciliation, North Korean security and stability, and regional views of Korean unification issues.
 
The microsite consists of two basic components. Each of these addresses a discrete aspect of the unification question, and in total the major website elements provide a unique and unprecedented holistic look at unification of the peninsula.

A. Interactive Research Tools Presenting New Data on Unification: New innovative big data analysis of North Korean behavior, interactive databases and timelines of inter‐Korean relations; satellite imagery of North Korean infrastructure and military; opinion polling – in some cases inside of North Korea; video archive history, all dedicated to expanding understanding globally about Korean unification.
B. Document Archive Library & Living History Video Interviews: A central repository of the most up‐to‐date and comprehensive archive of English‐language reference documents on Korean unification for use by the public, students, scholars, journalists, and policymakers.

Target and impact of the project
The target of the Beyond Parallel project is the international public, especially experts, opinion leaders, policymakers, stakeholders, academics, and the public in the United States.
By engaging this target audience, Beyond Parallel advances its primary objective to prepare the international public for Korean unification through academic research with new evidence, analytic tools, and data.

To this end, during the project period Beyond Parallel (See section 1.6 for additional detailed performance results on the project’s dissemination and impact.):

1. Reached a global audience through the project website and social media networks:
a. 111,990 project website page views during the 4‐month project period. This represents growth of 325% in sessions over the same period in the previous
year and 370% increase in users over the same period in the previous year.
b. The global reach of the Beyond Parallel’s website is highlighted by the results of Google Analytics during the project period. Website users from South Korea grew by 167% over the same period in the previous year. Users from the United States increased 872% over the same period in the previous year. Website users from Denmark, Japan, Germany, China, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Australia also grew significantly over the previous project period.
c. During the project period, we had a total reach of 33,016 impressions on Facebook.
d. Over 2.6 million impressions were made during the project period through the CSIS Korea Chair and CSIS Beyond Parallel Twitter accounts.

2. The project director and expert staff conducted 24 meetings, events, and briefings with U.S., South Korea, and international policymakers, students, and academics on the research and results of the project.

3. The project was covered in 54 articles and television news segments in the four‐month project period by 42 print and television media outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, CNN, and NBC.

4. Increased substantive knowledge about unification for consumption by experts, opinion leaders, and policymakers. The full collection of content produced can be accessed online at beyondparallel.csis.org/.