evidence: During the Cold War, South and North Korea engaged in a constant and fierce competition for legitimacy and dominance to become the leading state to unify the Korean Peninsula. As each side denied the other’s right to exist as an independent state and pursued unification on its own terms, the Korean Peninsula continuously suffered from conflicts and military clashes. [...] A two-state system would establish a legal and political framework that can help mitigate unification competition, facilitate peaceful coexistence and reduce security risks on the peninsula. Though experts have explored the two-state system in the past, public debates have been sensitive due to criticisms of the two-state system as anti-nationalist, anti-unification and anti-constitution, given the South Korean constitutional provision that claims the whole Korean Peninsula as its territory. However, in today’s environment where the risk of conflict, especially nuclear, is greater and the chances of unification are very slim, the two-state system is worth exploring seriously.