• Background: Cold War played out in Korea
• Debate: Social and economic instability v. A sound plan to deal with problems
• Country Comparison: Germany
• Recent Developments

Background

• The Korean peninsula became a theater for the Cold War conflict following World War II. Japan invaded the Korea 1905 (formally annexing it as Chosen in 1910) and occupied the peninsula until Japan's defeat in World War II. Tensions between the world's superpowers (the U.S. and the Soviet Union) divided the United Nations, resulting in a policy that split Korea into two zones of occupation. The northern zone was administered by the Soviet Union and the southern zone was administered by the United States. In 1948, permanent governments were established in each zone.
• In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea and began a 3 year war that intensified with the entrance of the People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union and the United Nations led by the United States.
• Notwithstanding the Korean War and Cold War politics, Koreans have strong ethnic traditions and a long shared history. Most consider reunification not only a goal, but an inevitability.
• The political and economic crises in North Korea, which include the international response to the government's nuclear program and mass famines, are setting back negotiations for reunification.

debate

• Concerns regarding the economic consequences of reunification have caused many to question whether the two countries should not wait until the North Korean economy is more stable. The vast inequality between the two regions would create social and economic challenges that would require careful planning. Many fear that the reunification effort will lead to placing some limitations on Southern democracy to placate the Northern dictatorship. Assuming that are no controls on migration, there would be a flood of millions to the South.
• A sound unification plan would address any potential problems. Giving North Koreans food, power, fuel, and ownership of the property they occupy would provide incentives to stay. South Korea also employs thousands of low-wage Chinese. Employing North Koreans would help develop the economy.

Country Comparison

• The reunification of Korea is often compared to the unification of East and West Germany, but there are many differences. First, citizens of the North are not able to access Southern media, but people in East Germany could get Western radio and television stations, despite attempts to jam them. Second, North Korea is much more populous compared to the South than the East was to the West (2:1 as opposed to 3:1). Third, the relative economics are vastly different and serve as a difficulty when considering any plan to unify the two countries. Whereas the ratio of income per capita in the Germanies was 3:1, in the Koreas it is 13:1, making the attempt to bring economic equality to both regions of a unified Korea a greater challenge than has been the case in unified Germany.

Recent Developments