The Korean Unification

[mayor]

and looking at the news and reading a few papers makes me think it's for the best of the North Koreans if it happens.

EDIT: aren't option two and three basically the same? I mean if the Koreans want it, it will happen peacefully, won't it?

 

[squall78]

If afro puffs and his government will be shut down, and tried for war crimes sure.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Erm, sorry, when were the UK and Germany a single state that was invaded by world superpowers that established their own puppet governments?

Saxons are always Saxons.

I find it funny however that Unification is the one topic where the North is entirely reasonable, but the south is insane.

 

[sophie]

God no! Don't you know what happens when Korea reunites?!?!

 

[GoodSarmatian]

If East and West Germany can reunite. So could North and South Korea.

That's the go-to comparison, but it's pretty misleading because the similarities are very superficial. East and West Germany never fought a civil war against each other and the eastern regime was backed up by and dependent on the Soviet Union. It was colloquialy called the zone as in soviet occupation zone. You might say the North is politically and economically dependand on China, but China doesn't have troops on the ground to stabilize the regime and NK is not the puppet of a foreign power. Germany's situation made it easier to sell the reunification as a 'liberation' by the legitimate government rather than an annexation.
Then there's the huge difference in politics and economy. As different as East and West Germany were, their economies and political systems were still much more similar to one another than the two Koreas.
I wouldn't be sure that the South would agree to reunification if Kim jong-Il offered to unconditionally abdicate tomorrow and South Korea could basically annex North Korea. The North would be too much of a burden on the economy.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Of course not. Of course, the south doesn't want to discuss the reasonable alternatives so...

 

[Artifis]

I only voted for peaceful reunification. I don't want to see a war where a potentially nuclear-armed N. Korea rains radioactive terror upon Seoul

 

[Leoreth]

If East and West Germany can reunite. So could North and South Korea.

That's the go-to comparison, but it's pretty misleading because the similarities are very superficial. East and West Germany never fought a civil war against each other and the eastern regime was backed up by and dependent on the Soviet Union. It was colloquialy called the zone as in soviet occupation zone. You might say the North is politically and economically dependand on China, but China doesn't have troops on the ground to stabilize the regime and NK is not the puppet of a foreign power. Germany's situation made it easier to sell the reunification as a 'liberation' by the legitimate government rather than an annexation.
Then there's the huge difference in politics and economy. As different as East and West Germany were, their economies and political systems were still much more similar to one another than the two Koreas.
I'm wouldn't be sure that the South would agree to reunification if Kim jong-Il offered to unconditionally abdicate tomorrow and South Korea could basically annex North Korea. The North would be too much of a burden on the economy.

Thanks, was already going to write something similar.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Of course not. Of course, the south doesn't want to discuss the reasonable alternatives so...

Only the vast majority in the south are in favor of it.

KBS Poll: Sentiment Shifting on Unification

Since North Korea’s attack on Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 23, many news accounts have said the incident shocked South Koreans out of complacency about inter-Korean relations.

Now, the data is coming that shows it.

A survey last month by KBS-TV showed that, of 1,000 respondents aged 19 years and above, 71.6% said that two Koreas should be unified. That’s a sharp increase from 60.2% in a similar survey in August.

Notably, the number of people with “no idea” or no opinion on the matter fell to 1.8% from 13.5% in the August survey.

Asked why unification should take place, 16.3% said they want to get out of threat of a war. In August, those with the same answer were merely 6%.

The survey found South Koreans seem to be ready to pay the price for a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.

When asked whether they’re willing to pay for the needed unification costs, nearly 70% of the respondents said yes, while 26.6% said no.

Few people think that South Korea can or should take over North Korea right away. However, 24.6% said it could happen within 10 years and another 24% said it could be within 20 years.

The Yeonpyeong attack isn’t the only reason why unification is on the minds of South Koreans. Since the North’s dictator Kim Jong Il tapped his 26-year-old son as his successor, there have been signs that North Koreans don’t like the idea.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s government has been talking more openly about the need to prepare for any contingency in the North’s future, including a collapse of the Kim regime. Previously, South Korean government officials feared that such talk would offend the North’s regime.

 

[Elta]

I am guessing the North will rebel, eventually.

At which point the North will merge with the south...... How China will feel about this I don't know, but I think they will turn a blind eye

 

[Core Imposter]

Would anone really answer 'no' ?

I did.

 

[amadeus]

I'd be afraid the ROKs would impose some kind of awful welfarism on them, so I'd rather have no unification until they can reach economic parity.

 

[Takhisis]

Wouldn't reunification help achieve that parity faster?

 

[Gen.Mannerheim]

If anything, after Kim's gone there might be something of an economic union to try out cooperation. I think that Kim heir is more open to political liberalism but the military still controls the strings up north. I think real unification will happen in 15-20 years.

 

[christos200]

in my opinion Korea can be united only in a form of fedaration.

 

[plarq]

in my opinion Korea can be united only in a form of fedaration.

That's what Kim said. 고려민주연방공화국 (Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo)

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I am guessing the North will rebel, eventually.

At which point the North will merge with the south...... How China will feel about this I don't know, but I think they will turn a blind eye

According to the wikileaked reports from the Beijing embassy, the younger generation of chinese leaders doesn't care all that much for NK and would be relieved if that tragic farce came to an end. Right now NK is seen as more trouble than it's worth and the alliance is a continued embarassment for China, but they can't just end it either without losing face.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Only the vast majority in the south are in favor of it.

KBS Poll: Sentiment Shifting on Unification

A poll asking if South Koreans want unification to happen tells us nothing about how they want it to happen.

The current plan seems to be "Wait for total societal collapse, when we have to deal with the refugee situation, the remains of the military and the worst humanitarian problems east asia has seen in decades, all at the same time as unification."

 

[aronnax]

A poll asking if South Koreans want unification to happen tells us nothing about how they want it to happen.

The current plan seems to be "Wait for total societal collapse, when we have to deal with the refugee situation, the remains of the military and the worst humanitarian problems east asia has seen in decades, all at the same time as unification."

The horror of trying to resist millions of people descending on the border whilst attempting to subdue the die-hard loyalists of Pyongyang has to be a terrible nightmare at the back of every Korean President.

 

[Takhisis]

Lots of people would move south for better jobs while the diehard brainwashed Kim loyalists would probably try and get as many of them as possible. And what would South Korea do with all the concentration camps?