Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was filled with people when the Wall fell in 1989. / Courtesy of German Embassy

The images that will forever be linked with the unification of Germany are evocative: a euphoric nation, jubilant masses at the Brandenburg Gate, people in each others’ arms, laughing and crying with joy at the same time.

The crowd shouted “We are one people!” The whole world witnessed how people’s desire to be free can topple a dictatorship. The political unification of the two German states followed a year later, on October 3, 1990.

The twentieth anniversary of German Unity gives us an opportunity to look back and be thankful ­ that the path to a unified Germany turned out to be so unexpectedly straightforward and was travelled so fast. We are grateful to our Western and Eastern friends and partners for this. Indeed we will never forget the support and sympathy they demonstrated during our unification process.

20 years after German Unity, it remains our task to make the world a more peaceful and pleasant place in which to live. German foreign policy is a peace policy. We are facing numerous challenges that we in our globalized world can only tackle together.

Germany and Korea have maintained friendly relations for more than 125 years. Germany is following the political developments on the Korean peninsula with deep sympathy and fully supports the efforts of the Korean government to bring peace and prosperity to all Koreans. Together with our Korean friends we hope that also the Korean people will find its way towards unity and freedom.