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I was in South Korea last month and there's a few different attitudes. There's a general sense that there should be one Korea at some point or other, though peo
by lionhearted 16y ago
I was in South Korea last month and there's a few different attitudes. There's a general sense that there should be one Korea at some point or other, though people disagree on the particulars based on what they focus on when they think about it.
Some people think the opportunities for manufacturing and development in North Korea are going to be great and are excited to have more Korean companies do their manufacturing in NK instead of China going forwards.
Many of the younger people are excited about the idea of no longer needing two years of mandatory military service, which is currently required mostly because of the North Korean threat (the older generation was more patriotic towards military service, the younger generation seems to see it as a bit more of a burden).
Some people are afraid of the ripple effect on the economy, in fact a lot of the Koreans I asked were aware of the West Germany/East Germany example you mentioned.
The general sentiment seems to be about 50/50 - half in favor of unification the sooner the better, half in favor of having North Korea as a separate state but with much friendlier and greater cooperation between them, and with a better government in the North. The older people seem more in favor of a short term unification, the younger people seem more disposed towards having North Korea be a separate state until they're ready to join back up.
Everyone - everyone in South Korea hates Kim Jong-il, and most people seem kind of embarassed and blush when you mention him.
- patio11 16y agoThere's a general sense that there should be one Korea at some point or other This is a quite popular opinion to express publicly, but I think the support for it is rather shallow. When push comes to shove, unifying Korea would have immediate economic impacts to South Koreans more severe than the United States swallowing Mexico. (South Korea has 48 million people who have essentially Italian living standards. North Korea has 23 million people and is desperately poor. The day the border goes down every man under the age of thirty in North Korea would try to cross to South Korea, looking for any available job. That historically does not endear large immigration populations to their host nations.)
- DeusExMachina 16y agoBeing italian, I'm really curious about what you mean with "italian living standards".
- archgoon 16y agoIn terms of GDP per capita, South Korea is closest to Italy out of any European country, which HN readers might feel more familiar with. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_...
- patio11 16y agoArchgoon got it in one. I have an East Asian Studies degree, but most Americans don't, so when I discuss the current or historical economies of East Asian countries I usually use a North American or European frame of reference. ("Japan in 1960 was substantially poorer than Mexico" works very effectively to get someone's attention.)
- w1ntermute 16y agoI highly doubt the border would just "go down". That would be an economic and logistical disaster for South Korea.
- patio11 16y agoI agree. This gives us the prospect of a democratic nation with internal passports and a border where you'll be shot for trying to cross. I don't think that is likely, which is why I'm pessimistic about the odds of reunification.
- dpapathanasiou 16y agoEveryone - everyone in South Korea hates Kim Jong-il, and most people seem kind of embarassed and blush when you mention him. What about this, which came from B.R. Myers's book "The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters": "Even in South Korea there are those who feel the Kim Jong-il regime, under which they themselves could not live for a single day, to be somehow more "authentically" Korean."