Germany to help Korea's unification
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President Park Geun-hye said at a summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel held in Berlin on Wednesday Korea will benchmark the formerly divided western nation in realizing unification with North Korea.
By Kim Tae-gyu
BERLIN _ President Park Geun-hye had a summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel here, Wednesday, to discuss bilateral cooperation for unification of the two Koreas.
Germany suffered from a division after World War II but managed to reunify in 1990. Korea, which has yet to overcome the almost seven decades of separation, is attempting to benchmark Germany.
“Based on Germany’s rich experience of having successfully achieved unification, Merkel promised to provide various support to help attain our initiative of bringing the two Koreas together,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said.
“They also exchanged views on the North Korean nuclear issue, which poses a very serious threat to world peace and regional stability.”
Calling unification a “bonanza” in consideration of business opportunities, Park has put it on the front burner this year.
Also included on the agenda was how to strengthen economic cooperation so that bilateral trade between South Korea and Germany will increase from last year’s $27.2 billion, a record high.
“We believe the size of cross-border trade can be substantially boosted because there is still untapped potential,” the official said.
“In particular, Park and Merkel opted to beef up efforts in areas such as job education, science and technology as well as promoting small- and mid-sized enterprises.”
During the fifth meeting between Park and Merkel, the two countries also agreed to collaborate in various other segments.
“Germany helped Korea a lot when we started economic development in the 1960s and ‘70s. Now, the two has become global partners, which strive to chalk up win-win relations,” Park’s secretary for trade, industry and energy, Moon Jae-do, said.
The two leaders first met in 2000 when Park visited Germany as deputy leader of the main opposition Grand National Party, now the governing Saenuri Party. Back then, the two talked a lot about unification.
Thereafter, they frequently communicated.
Merkel was the first to deliver congratulatory messages to Park in December 2012 when she won the presidential election.
The two also share many things in common - both studied science and engineering and took the leadership of their countries’ major conservative parties becoming the first female chief executives in their respective states.
Earlier in the day, Park also had a face-to-face talk with German President Joachim Wilhelm Gauck.