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Is there a reason for this planning? Is this government or private enterprise? Maybe this is the south sending a signal to the north? Or private enterprise in t

Is there a reason for this planning? Is this government or private enterprise? Maybe this is the south sending a signal to the north? Or private enterprise in the south with government backing? I swear Korean politics is more confusing than the east-west Cold War. Reunification went well in Germany. Although even now there are vast differences between the east and west, the east is fully integrated. Think of it as the poor southern US vs the east coast.

lolgas 12y ago
I don't fully understand the politics either, but this is a clear signal that the South wants the North to flourish. Everyone wins when capitalism is injected into an economy. The South's private sector gains would be big because of the cheap labor, and the population of the North would have incredible wage growth. The effects of injecting capitalism would be magnified relative to the fall of East Germany because the differences in GDP are enormous. If this happens, it would be the biggest win for capitalism/democracy I've seen in my lifetime (I'm born after the fall of ussr)
tsotha 12y ago
>Is there a reason for this planning? Is this government or private enterprise? Maybe this is the south sending a signal to the north? Or private enterprise in the south with government backing? I swear Korean politics is more confusing than the east-west Cold War. The South Korean government expects the North to collapse at some point. North Korea only survives as a country because the Chinese give them oil and other countries give them food periodically. Nearly 100% of the country's economic output goes to the maintenance of the state. >Reunification went well in Germany. Although even now there are vast differences between the east and west, the east is fully integrated. Think of it as the poor southern US vs the east coast. That's ridiculous. Germany is a very wealthy country and it paid a huge price to reintegrate the East. A process that's not complete, by the way. South Korea is not as wealthy as West Germany was, and North Korea is far worse off than East Germany. Reunification will break the South, economically.
bewo001 12y ago
It is a good idea to plan ahead. The East German gorvernment of 1988 looked at least as secure as the NK government looks now. The West German military draft was extended in 1988 'because the commies are stronger than ever'. When the East German regime fell, it fell so quickly that nobody had the time to make a well-thought out plan. The West German government didn't have any plan in 1989, despite all the Sunday speeches dreaming of re-unification. In hindsight, many things could have been done better, eg the rules about ownership of nationalized property. Unresolved ownership questions were a huge roadblock for economic development.

lolgas 12y ago

I don't fully understand the politics either, but this is a clear signal that the South wants the North to flourish. Everyone wins when capitalism is injected into an economy. The South's private sector gains would be big because of the cheap labor, and the population of the North would have incredible wage growth. The effects of injecting capitalism would be magnified relative to the fall of East Germany because the differences in GDP are enormous. If this happens, it would be the biggest win for capitalism/democracy I've seen in my lifetime (I'm born after the fall of ussr)

tsotha 12y ago

>Is there a reason for this planning? Is this government or private enterprise? Maybe this is the south sending a signal to the north? Or private enterprise in the south with government backing? I swear Korean politics is more confusing than the east-west Cold War. The South Korean government expects the North to collapse at some point. North Korea only survives as a country because the Chinese give them oil and other countries give them food periodically. Nearly 100% of the country's economic output goes to the maintenance of the state. >Reunification went well in Germany. Although even now there are vast differences between the east and west, the east is fully integrated. Think of it as the poor southern US vs the east coast. That's ridiculous. Germany is a very wealthy country and it paid a huge price to reintegrate the East. A process that's not complete, by the way. South Korea is not as wealthy as West Germany was, and North Korea is far worse off than East Germany. Reunification will break the South, economically.

bewo001 12y ago

It is a good idea to plan ahead. The East German gorvernment of 1988 looked at least as secure as the NK government looks now. The West German military draft was extended in 1988 'because the commies are stronger than ever'. When the East German regime fell, it fell so quickly that nobody had the time to make a well-thought out plan. The West German government didn't have any plan in 1989, despite all the Sunday speeches dreaming of re-unification. In hindsight, many things could have been done better, eg the rules about ownership of nationalized property. Unresolved ownership questions were a huge roadblock for economic development.