▲ Jared Diamond, author of "Guns, Germs and Steel," speaks during the annual Global Korea Forum hosted by the unification ministry under the theme, peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula, on Aug. 27, 2026. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- Jared Diamond, a renowned U.S. scholar, suggested Thursday that South Korea refrain from publicly "bad-mouthing" North Korea if it wants to achieve peaceful coexistence with Pyongyang.

Diamond, author of the best-selling "Guns, Germs and Steel," made the remarks during a forum in Seoul, referring to the approach taken by the Finnish government to retain a peaceful relationship with Russia for over 80 years.

"So, Finland avoids criticizing Russia ... because they realize that that's necessary for their own security," he said, adding it was up to South Korea to decide whether they want to maintain peaceful relations with the North.

"Because if you want to achieve peaceful coexistence with North Korea, you are going to have to stop publicly bad-mouthing North Korea," he said.

Diamond said Finland had to make the "unthinkable" choice as a democratic nation to ask their press to refrain from criticizing Russia, as their survival and peace depended on having "friendly relations" with Russia, which invaded the northern European country in 1939.

Citing the example of Finland, Diamond proposed during his keynote speech that South Korea needs to hold discussions "privately" with North Korea on shared problems faced by the two countries in various areas, such as climate change, agriculture, aquaculture and responding to invasive species.

"Initially, I'd expect those discussions to be carried on privately, without any announcements, to develop areas of trust between your countries and areas of mutual usefulness."

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