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It isn't a question of desire. If the economy of the north collapses and millions of people are on the verge of famine, the south needs a plan to maintain some

• zo1 12y ago
  I wouldn't think that "order" is what they'd like to maintain. But rather, keep the humanitarian crisis just past it's border from resulting in millions dying.
• richsinn 12y ago
  Not just the South, but China too. North Korean refugees are already a concern for China.[1] If the economy or the government collapses in North Korea, it's not hard to imagine chaos spilling over in to both countries. [1] http://blogs.piie.com/nk/?p=13422 http://blogs.piie.com/nk/?p=13422
• noobermin 12y ago
  Perhaps then, the question is how much of the responsibility lies with the South after such a thing occurs. Would SK simply annex NK or would something like a joint/international humanitarian effort to help NK survive and may be start its own government be better? Honestly, I don't have any right to say one way or the other is right because I'm not even Korean, I just think that we in the west need to stop taking as a hypothesis that if NK collapses that it is SK's responsibility. I think it is up to the South Koreans to decide whether they want that, and not us [1]. [1] And yes, that's what this article is about, the government is preparing for this contingency, but as we in the west know, our government doesn't always do what we want.
• jpatokal 12y ago
  The economy of the north already collapsed in the 1990s, with on the order of 500,000 people dying from famine. But this did not break the regime.