The government-run Korea Institute for National Unification has allocated funds in its 2012 budget for the research of China's influence on inter-Korean relations and unification.

An institute official said Thursday that it submitted its budget with funds set aside to research China as its sphere of global influence grows. The official said this is the first year that a budget for such a study has been earmarked.

Prior to that, the institute designated some ten researchers to study China’s G2 emergence, and its strategy to pursue peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula. It has analyzed from multiple points of view China’s impact on the Korean Peninsula.