Talks of an imminent reunification have been rampant and indeed seem inevitable in light of recent developments in the two Koreas.
First, there were the numerous family reunions among dozens of relatives who had had no communication since the Korean War.
Next came the historic summit last June between leaders of South and North Korea, signaling a new era in Korean political relations. During the summit, the leaders agreed on a number of things, including allowing reunions between war-torn families and promoting closer economic ties, in the hopes that these actions would lead to an eventual reunification. To date, about 7.6 million South Koreans — 15 percent of the population — have relatives in the North whom they haven’t seen since the end of the war.
Indeed the meeting was unprecedented. A Korean scholar and former Russian diplomat who was posted in Pyongyang in the late ’80s called it a “”landmark event in Korean history, tantamount to putting a symbolic end to the Korean War.””
Although reunification appears to be inevitable in the long run, the transition will and should take much longer. In other words, don’t expect the two Koreas to become one any time soon.
Essentially, an attempt at reunification is an attempt at marrying two very different creatures. Ever since the start of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, the two sides have been at odds with each other. Intense fighting lasted nearly three years between North and South Korea. The three-year fighting between the South, backed by the United Nations, and the North, backed by China and the Soviet Union, cost the lives of approximately 2.4 million Koreans.
Bitter from old wounds and a tenuous truce that ended the war, the two Koreas have maintained their separation for 50 years. In fact, the two are still technically at war: the creation of a guarded demilitarized zone and the fact that each is still heavily armed is a testament to this.
Within the passing of that half century, both countries have taken very different paths. The North embraced a communist dictatorship with Kim Il Sung at the helm. For years, it remained an isolated country, struggling from decades of being cut off from modern technology, only now facing the effects in the form of starvation and poverty. Kim imposed a Korean form of Stalinism that raised his persona to that of cult status, reminiscent of China’s Mao Tse-Tung. With the death of Kim, the North has continued to encounter severe economic problems. Put simply, the North needs help.
The South, on the other hand, has enjoyed much greater luck since the great divide. It has evolved into a capitalist democracy that has made its mark as a viable manufacturing force, playing a major role in the new digital economy. The South, in contrast to the North, has enjoyed great prosperity. Yet it has experienced its share of hardship as well. After the war, South Korea suffered two military coups, a series of popular rebellions and years of chaos under authoritarian leaders. Since the financial crisis that hit Asia in 1997, South Korea has struck back as an economic force to be reckoned with.
Many Koreans have conflicting feelings about a quick reunification. I am one of them. The biggest concern would have to be trust. The question lingers — “”How can two countries, at odds with each other for so long with two completely different ideologies, merge to make one?”” What analysts have deemed the “”Korean shuffle”” becomes appropriate to this question.
With every step forward the two Koreas take, two steps back always seem to follow. For instance, both sides worked tirelessly at an agreement on improving relations, only to have then-North Korean leader Kim die soon afterward. More recently, in response to the North’s dire poverty, the South provided aid to famine victims. Its philanthropic mood was quickly spoiled, however, when it was discovered that a North Korean spy was watching the South from southern waters.
The answer may lie in other precedents, such as the reunification of the two Germanys late last century. If the present is any indication of the uphill struggle the process entails, you don’t need to look any further than Germany and all the difficulties it has faced after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Easing tensions between the two Koreas will not be easy. Although reunification is an obvious step in the right direction, the process should take time.
At one of the reunions, one woman’s dilemma of reconciling her love for her long-estranged sister with her differing core beliefs served as an apt metaphor for the same challenge South and North Korea will no doubt face if reunification is ever to occur.
During the meeting, emotions were high as the two embraced after decades of complete isolation. It only took a few hours, however, before both siblings were at odds with each another. The sister from the South could not believe how “”brainwashed”” her sister from the North had become, in her profession of utter devotion to communism and her abhorrence of democracy. Indeed, it was hard for both of them to realize how different each had become and how hard it would be to come to terms with this.
Critics claim that the North’s increased openness to the world is motivated purely by economic reasons. They point out how North Korea has concluded that American generosity is beginning to wear thin and that the most attractive alternative is South Korea.
In other words, the North appears to have shifted its focus from the United States to its southern neighbor for economic aid, hence the summits and talks of reunification.
Undoubtedly, this is true because the North is suffering. Just the same, a deeper motivation still exists. Ultimately, unification should be seen as a shared aspiration of all the Korean people. Years from now, a reunification may bridge most of the heavy gaps that prevented all previous attempts before. Economics aside, the two need to reunify, but with one condition — gradually, without haste. Ten to 20 years down the line will prove to be the best time for Korea to recover the homogeneity of a people that has been lost in 50 years of division.
