Korean Reunification

Reunifying Korea will be very much different than what Germany faced. Some of the lessons I believe that can be applied to unifying Korea is the dissolving of the communist state and the combining of the two different economies.

When the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stated "to pave the way for further reform when he made known his "unqualified recognition of the integrity and security of every state and its right to choose freely its own political and social system as well as unqualified adherence to the norms and principles of international law, especially respect for the right of peoples to self-determination." (Yancey, 1994, page 31). This encouraged the East Germans to demand changes as well. This was the start of the fall of the communist rule in East Germany.

The main cause of demands of change was the fact that the communist government of East Germany made promises they couldn't keep and the fact that West Germans were living a wonderful and prosperous lifestyle that the East Germans wanted. The same can be said for the North Koreans. The South Koreans are living a wonderful and prosperous lifestyle that the North Koreans could only dream of. The only difference between the Germans and the Koreans is that West Germany was able to use propaganda on the television to show the East Germans what life is like in the west. In Korea, the North blocks this propaganda and does its own internal propaganda to have the North Koreans believe that the North Korean way of life is the only way of life.

If South Korea can do like West Germany and prove to the North Koreans that there is a better life other than what they are living, I am quite sure they will stand up and demand that they be given a better life. This will of course make the communist rulers uncomfortable and they will start to oppress their people even further, possibly even going as far as conducting genocide. But because the North Korean government controls every aspect of North Korea, the people are kept in the dark on what is actually going on in the outside world. The South Korean government needs to target the people of North Korea and prove to them that they can have a better life than that of what the North Korean government can.

The second lesson learned will be the integration of the two economies. Of course you have the rich and very strong South Korean economy versus the very weak and poor economy of the North. In order for this to be successful the South Korean government will have to do a very very in depth assessment into how much the reunification process will cost. In the German reunification process it was estimated to cost DM 40 billion ($22.4 billion) a year to assist in absorbing East Germany. However, the cost came to be DM 140 billion (over $95 billion). (Yancey, 1994, page 55) The South Koreans are going to have the same problem. They will have to take into affect that what industry the North has will have to be updated and brought to modern standards.

Once the reunification process starts, the South will have to deal with the massive influx of North Koreans moving into the South. With the North Koreans moving south they will be very reliant on the South Korean government for welfare needs. This will become a burden on the economy. This is what the South will really need to prepare itself for.

Another issue that both sides will face is the fact that they have been enemies for over half a century. If the reunification process was to happen both sides have a lot of differences to put a side. If this does not happen there would be a lot of resentment between the South Koreans and North Koreans. This same thing happened between the